Manchester United are considering going to China on next summer’s tour, with two of the club’s major sponsors, Chevrolet and Aon, keen to boost their profiles in the country. Although nothing is decided, Louis van Gaal may be resistant to the lengthy travel and differing time zones the trip would entail.
During the manager’s first pre-season tour of the US 12 months ago the Dutchman was strident in objecting to the logistics of a trip that took in five matches in five states across the country.
This summer Van Gaal limited the travel to two internal flights, from Seattle to San Jose and from the latter to Chicago. The manager set up two training camps, in Seattle and San Jose, each lasting a week. Van Gaal insisted that United fly into Chicago for Thursday night’s final match, against Paris Saint-Germain, on Tuesday evening and head back to the UK after it.
The number of commercial engagements dropped markedly from the 184 of the previous trip to this year’s 71, though this was partly due to the new Adidas kit deal not requiring any exposure as it does not start until 1 August.
Last year Chevrolet signed a shirt sponsorship contract with United worth £53m a season until 2021. In 2013 Aon agreed to pay the club £180m over eight years for the naming rights to the Carrington base – it being rebranded as the Aon Training Complex – and United’s training apparel. The new Adidas deal is worth a world record £750m over the next 10 years.
So, despite United insisting football matters are always the prime concern regarding any aspect of club strategy, commercial imperatives are a major factor that have to be considered. Van Gaal understands this though, given the pressure he is under to win trophies, he will be keen to have next year’s tour as low-key and player-friendly as is practical.
Van Gaal spoke of how the trip has been better suited to preparation for the new campaign. “We have already changed a lot of things in relation to this tour. The last tour, we were on the other coast with more heat and humidity and that was a negative,” he said, of the final match against Liverpool in Miami. “It is also hot here, but people say it is not normal. We only have two base camps, last year we had to fly and fly with different schedules and time zones each time.
“We have better training camps this year. We had fantastic facilities in Seattle, they were superb, and also at Avaya Stadium and Stanford University. Overall, we have a better training camp, but we also won every game last year and it doesn’t say anything. All that matters is the [season’s opening] game against Tottenham Hotspur.”
In last August’s season opener United were defeated 2-1 by Swansea City to leave confidence “smashed”, Van Gaal admitted. He is intent the players focus on the visit of Spurs on Saturday-week for this term’s first match to ensure this does not occur again.
