Manchester United vs Wigan Athletic: What time does it start, what channel is it on, can I buy tickets?

Everything you need to know about the pre-season friendly at the DW Stadium

Jose Mourinho oversees training ahead of Manchester United's pre-season friendly against Wigan (Getty)

Manchester United will get their pre-season programme underway on Saturday when they take on Wigan Athletic to start the Jose Mourinho era at Old Trafford.

The former Chelsea manager has wasted little time in getting to grips with life at United, having completed the signings of Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan while setting his sights on former United academy player Paul Pogba in a potential world record transfer.

But amid all the transfer speculation and the unveiling of Mourinho, United will get their season underway in a hastily arranged friendly against Wigan, who play their first match since securing immediate promotion back to the Championship last season.

The friendly will give Mourinho’s squad a tune-up before they head to China next week for a two-match tour against Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City, and allow their new signings and young players the chance to impress the Portuguese manager with the new season on the horizon.

But unfortunately for the fans travelling to the match, there will not be the debut of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to enjoy, with the striker afforded extra holiday by Mourinho after his international commitments with Sweden at Euro 2016 came to an end. Nor will there be United's England contingent of Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling or Marcus Rashford, with the trio not due back for training until next week.

What time does it start?

Wigan Athletic vs Manchester United kicks off at 13:30 on Saturday 16 July at the DW Stadium.

What channel is it on?

The match will be shown live on MUTV, United in-house channel, with fans able to subscribe to MUTV on Sky for £7 per month or Virgin Media for £6 per month.

The Independent will also provide coverage in the form of our minute-by-minute live blog.

Best stat?

56-5: The number of goals United have scored compared to Wigan in their 18 competitive fixtures, with United winning all but one of them. Remarkably, there has never been a draw between the two sides, with Wigan winning clinching their only victory in the 1-0 triumph in 2011/12.

Who to watch?

For United fans the two big names will be obvious in Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly. The two agreed to join United in £30m and £26m deals respectively, and have been identified as “pivotal” signings by Mourinho. Mkhitaryan will likely be the one that dominates the headlines if he shows anything like his form over his three-year spell at Borussia Dortmund, while Bailly is expected to be the long-term replacement for Daley Blind, with the Netherlands international fighting for his future at Old Trafford.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan joins United on a four-year contract (Getty)

There will be one other name to watch out for though as left-back Luke Shaw makes his return from the broken leg he suffered in September last year, having missed the last 10 months of football which included the FA Cup final victory and the European Championship with England.

But there’s also plenty to watch on the Wigan side, not least the star of the European Championship in striker Will Grigg. The Northern Ireland striker led Wigan’s League 1-winning campaign last season with 28 goals in 42 matches, earning himself a call-up for Euro 2016 in Michael O’Neill’s squad. However, Grigg failed to play a minute of action in France, but that didn’t stop fans from all nations chanting the now famous “Will Grigg’s on Fire” chant to their hearts content.

Luke Shaw will play for the first time since suffering a broken leg (Getty)

Tickets

Tickets aren’t actually available on the day, so fans looking to attend the match must order them by 17:00 on Friday by phone or midnight online to get reserved seating. Prices are as follows:

Adults: £15

Under-18s and Over-65s: £10

Under 11s: £5

Under 5s: £2