A campaign marred by injuries saw the club finish eighth in the Premier League with a negative goal difference, their worst position since 1989–90.

Despite this, they excelled in the FA Cup, reaching the final for the second successive season where they faced cross-city rivals Manchester City in a repeat of the previous year's showpiece.

This was the first season since 2010–11 without goalkeeper David de Gea and defender Phil Jones, who left the club when their contracts expired.

With the departures of De Gea and Jones, United were initially without a Premier League winner in their squad for the first time since the competition's inaugural season in 1992–93, as well as without a player who played under Alex Ferguson for the first time since 1974;[2] however, the re-signing of Jonny Evans, who won three Premier League titles with the club between 2006 and 2015, meant that was no longer the case.

[7] On 12 May, the club announced their third and fourth pre-season friendlies in the US against fierce rivals Arsenal in New York City,[8] and in Houston against Real Madrid, which will be played one day after Wrexham game.

[16] With their match against Real Madrid scheduled for Houston the next day, United fielded a team made up largely of under-21 players against Wrexham on 25 July.

[17] They then suffered a second loss in as many days when goals from Jude Bellingham and Joselu gave Real Madrid a 2–0 win in Houston; newly signed goalkeeper André Onana made his debut in the game, playing the full 90 minutes.

Florian Sotoca put the visitors ahead after chipping Onana from the edge of the centre circle in the first half, before Marcus Rashford, Antony and Casemiro scored in the second period to turn the game around for United.

The La Liga team scored first through Nico Williams, but an added time equaliser from Facundo Pellistri meant that United ended their pre-season campaign with a draw.

Christian Eriksen pulled one back in the first half, before Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes secured the comeback win with a goal each either side of a second-half red card for Forest's Joe Worrall.

With the scoreline level until the 77th-minute, Diogo Dalot fired home his first goal of the season beyond the penalty area to win the match.

As a Premier League side, United entered the 2023–24 FA Cup in the third round and were drawn away to Wigan Athletic,[30] with the match to be played on 8 January 2024.

[34] On 28 January, United won at Rodney Parade 4–2 courtesy of goals from Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Antony and Rasmus Højlund.

[35] On the same day, Bristol City or Nottingham Forest were drawn as their next opponents, with the match taking place on 28 February.

Jerémy Doku got one back for City late on but it wasn't enough as United picked up their 13th FA Cup trophy.

However United gave away two-goal leads against Copenhagen and Galatasaray, causing eventual elimination from the competition after a 1-0 defeat to Bayern.