Manchester United’s under-21 side have been invited to compete in this season’s edition of the Premier League International Cup.

The club will be involved in Under-21 Premier League action at the same time, but Warren Joyce’s men will no doubt be relishing the opportunity of facing some of Europe’s top under-age sides.

United would have qualified for the last two editions of the International Cup via their league placing in the Under-21 Premier League, but declined to field a team in the competition.

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The current holders of the under-23 tournament are Villarreal, who beat PSV Eindhoven in last season’s edition, while Manchester City won the inaugural edition of the tournament by beating Porto in the final the season before.

The tournament has been expanded this season to 24 teams, with 12 English sides being joined by another twelve from the continent, as opposed to 16 teams in previous editions of the tournament.

There will be six groups of four in the group stage, with the top club in each group and two best-placed runners-up qualifying for the knockout stages.

Each side will be permitted to register three over-age players as well as an overage keeper, with the fixtures being announced at a later date.