Bryan Mbeumo’s first touch left Jaka Bijol on the Croke Park turf. Three more carried him deep behind a scrambling Leeds United back line. His fifth curled through the legs of Tarik Muharemovic and perfectly to Joshua Zirkzee’s feet for his first-time finish.It was Manchester United’s ninth goal in five pre-season games, a clinic in explosive attacking — and all done without the man most would have expected to start the season leading the line.Michael Carrick’s side would go on to draw their penultimate pre-season friendly 1-1 with Leeds United, winning 5-4 on penalties. There was still no role for Benjamin Sesko, who joined his team’s training camp in Ireland this week but is yet to feature in a pre-season squad match as he recovers from a shin injury.The expectation is that Sesko will be ready for United’s Premier League opener at Hull City on August 22. However, with his involvement in pre-season limited, concerns about his readiness to slot in immediately are understandable.After a slow start to his debut campaign, the striker thrived under Carrick to reach 11 league goals, nine of which came after the turn of the year. Some of those were crucial: the equaliser against West Ham United in February that lengthened Carrick’s unbeaten start, winners against Fulham and Everton the same month, goals in narrow victories over Brentford and Liverpool. However, he has not featured since that last match on May 5.The prospect of starting the season without him in full flow, as he might have been with a complete pre-season with the squad, is a blow — but the silver lining is that it has given United the opportunity to sharpen their backup plan.Bryan Mbeumo has impressed in Manchester United’s pre-season friendlies. (Evan Treacy/Getty Images)Mbeumo led the line against Leeds for the third consecutive friendly, flanked by Amad to his right and Patrick Dorgu to his left, and has stood out. He registered an assist at Croke Park and scored three times in the previous two matches.