Manchester United will travel to the United States for another pre-season tour after last summer’s trip saw almost a quarter of a million fans watch the team across four games.
Manchester United have cut back on travel for this summer’s pre-season tour in a bid to protect their players and avoid the mistakes of last year.
Last year, United played pre-season games in Oslo, Edinburgh, New Jersey, Houston, San Diego and Las Vegas, flew a total of 15,236 miles for eight games and was away for a total of 13 nights.
Last year, the feeling was that the second game of the tour, against Real Madrid in Houston, was pointless and put unnecessary stress on the players, who had to travel there from their base in San Diego and back. Kobbie Mainoo was injured in that game and did not play again until November.
This year, United is doing things differently: The team flew a total of 13,614 miles to play in Trondheim, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego and North Carolina, playing five games and spending just 11 nights away.
As with previous visits to Los Angeles, United will train at the state-of-the-art campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on the west coast of their US tour. United trained there under Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, who preferred the training base in his first spell as Chelsea manager.
United will prepare there for the game against Arsenal and also for the second game of the tour, against Real Betis in San Diego. United’s players will return to Los Angeles to resume training after that game, before flying to North Carolina for their final game of the tour, against arch-rivals Liverpool, on August 4.
United’s opening pre-season friendly against Arsenal at SoFi Stadium on Saturday (1am Sunday UK time) is expected to be a huge success. SoFi’s capacity for football matches is 70,240 and the presence of two of the Premier League’s biggest names is expected to ensure a full house. The cheapest standard tickets for the match cost £73, with the most expensive VIP seats costing a whopping £520.
The travelling party for United’s three-match tour of the US is much smaller than in previous years, with around 125 people, including players, coaching staff and officials, making up the travelling party.
On a previous tour of the United States under Louis van Gaal, United’s touring party consisted of around 200 people, but cost-cutting measures and planned job cuts have seen that number reduced to its lowest total in years.
Erik ten Hag’s squad for the US tour could be without English duo Mainoo and Luke Shaw, Portuguese duo Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, and Argentina’s Copa America winners Lisandro Martinez and Alejandro Garnacho.
But the squad has been bolstered by the return to training of Danish duo Rasmus Hojlund and Christian Eriksen, as well as Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire and Antony, ensuring the Red Devils will take a strong squad to the United States.
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