Wrexham manager slams United keeper after star suffers punctured lung

Manchester United’s warm-up with Wrexham in San Diego was far from being just a casual, good-natured pre-season friendly. Apart from the surprising result, with the fourth-tier team beating their Premier League adversaries 1-3, the match was marked by an incident which left Paul Mullin, the star of the Welsh team, in hospital.

The forward took the brunt of a collision with United goalkeeper Nathan Bishop and ended up with a punctured lung. After being treated by medical staff for seven minutes on the pitch, the player, drowsy and requiring oxygen assistance, was taken to the hospital.

Understandably, Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson was not too happy. He told reporters afterwards, “It’s a real blow for us, you can’t hide away from that. Mulls has got a small puncture in his lung, he’s in hospital at the moment. It’s a clumsy challenge from the goalkeeper and I’m disappointed with that. It should have been a straight red. If it’s not denying a goal-scoring opportunity, it’s still a dangerous challenge. If you add the two scenarios together, he should’ve been off the pitch. Obviously, Mulls is our talisman and the way the lads responded after that, I thought was outstanding. That’s what we are all about as a group - resilience and sticking together”.

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United boss Erik Ten Hag took the opportunity to give his youth players some playing time against Wrexham - resting his first choice players for the team’s next outing, against Real Madrid in Houston. However, the friendly ended on a sour note.

According to The Telegraph, Parkinson’s words have not gone down well at Old Trafford. Manchester United are concerned that the Wrexham manager’s statements could provoke a wave of insults towards the young goalkeeper, who apologized both in the dressing room and on social media.