The funeral of Kath Phipps was the only occasion in recent memory where a Manchester United manager had a full squad with him.

Every first-team squad member, whether fit, unwell or injured, followed Ruben Amorim into Manchester Cathedral to pay their respects to a remarkable woman whom Sir Alex Ferguson said ran the club in his effusive eulogy.

Having Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia on the same coach is a rarity. Since the start of last season, United's two senior left backs have been named in the same squad on three occasions. That's three matches out of a possible 72.

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Amorim said last week Shaw was closing in on a return. The United captain Bruno Fernandes is now 17 United appearances shy of drawing level with Shaw. Shaw made his United debut in September 2014. Fernandes' bow was in February 2020.

Left back was a blind spot for Erik ten Hag, be it instructing United to hijack Lyon's move for Malacia, signing Sergio Reguilon, selling Alvaro Fernandez, playing Harry Amass in pre-season but not during the actual season. Malacia is out of contract next year and this could well be his last with United.

Shaw has made 24 starts since he agreed a four-year deal in April 2023. That has to be the final United contract for a player who has so far made three substitute appearances in his 11th season at the club.

A left back, a left wing back, or left winger, is essential in the summer. Amorim is still dependent on the durability and versatility of right backs Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot on the flanks and the latter enjoyed his best game of the season against the negligent Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield. Those two really ought to be competing with each other on the right-hand side.

United are interested in the Sporting prodigy, Geovany Quenda, who is left-footed but plays on the right. Quenda does not turn 18 until April 30 and United already have a raw left back in Amass, yet to figure under Amorim.

Whoever occupies the left-sided role will have one of the most important functions in the United team: servicing the striker. Quenda and Maxi Araújo, Amorim's widemen at Sporting, are regarded as wingers, not full backs.

Amorim needs pure wingers to redress the balance with full backs Mazraoui and Dalot. United are not actively pursuing Nuno Mendes, a left back who often played on the left wing for Amorim at Sporting.

Handily for United, a handful of impressive left backs have entered the last six months of their contract. Alphonso Davies, Tyrick Mitchell and Ferland Mendy are the most noticeable.

Bayern Munich left back Davies and Mendy, a triumphant two-time Champions League finalist with Real Madrid, could feasibly do a club swap. Mitchell has attained two England caps.

United scouted Davies, now 24, when he was a 14-year-old. "It was my first player that I recommended to United when they hired me," the club's former international scout Jorge Alvial said.

"The first time I saw him he was playing at the Dallas Cup tournament, and he was a very good player. He was only 14 then, he went back to Vancouver and then when I was watching him on videos with my son, Javier, and said: 'Wait a second. We remember that player, that is Alphonso.' And that is when I called.

"I had just got hired at that time and I called and said I wanted to go and see this player. So I went and right away, I am being honest, right away I recommended him. I feel very, very strongly about him.

"He is physical, intelligent. I felt strongly about him, if not stronger than I did when I recommended Christian Pulisic to Chelsea, and I took him for a trial at 14 years old.

"When I saw him play he was in the B team at Vancouver and the speed he had at 15, he was already going by guys that had been playing in the USA for a while. He was left-footed, his vision was great, his technique was good, not great, but with technique you can improve it.

"But the things that he saw at that age I went 'Wow. This is a superstar.' Right away for two years I recommended him to Man United."

United had pencilled in a three-week trial for Davies in early 2018 but he remained in Canada instead. Vancouver Whitecaps valued him at $2m.

There are other blasts from United's past available in the summer. Kieran Tierney, once scouted in-person by Jose Mourinho, and Sergio Reguilon, sent back to Tottenham midway through his supine season-long loan last year.

Or they could come full circle and to a player who was namechecked in Jonny Evans's eulogy on Monday. Ashley Young's Everton contract expires in June.