Manchester United have scrapped plans to hold a warm weather training camp in the Middle East next month following recent tensions in the region between the United States and Iran.
United are currently scheduled to have a 16-day gap between games during the Premier League’s inaugural winter break and have shortlisted locations for a mid-season getaway, with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar high on the list.
Club officials were understood to be strongly considering a trip to the Aspire Academy in Doha, which they last visited in 2013 at the midpoint of Sir Alex Ferguson’s final campaign in charge.
Last year, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side travelled to Dubai for a five-day warm weather camp, revisiting a venue chosen by Jose Mourinho and his staff the previous season.
But Solskjaer said on Tuesday that the fall-out from the assassination of Qassem Soleimani and the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in Tehran meant United would not travel to the Middle East this year.
“I am going to give [the players] a few days off,” he said regarding next month’s winter break. “I don’t know where they will all scatter around but we will stay in Europe.”
When asked if United had changed plans due to recent US-Iran tensions, he said: “Yes, yes. If there is one thing that worries me it’s not on the football pitch. There are other things that will worry me more than football.”
Solskjaer added: “We were looking at Middle East but that is definitely not going to happen.”
It is understood that there will be no restrictions on the travel of United players during the time off which Solskjaer has promised, but any training camp will take place in Europe.
While in charge of Molde, Solskjaer took his players away for camps in Benidorm and Estepona, near Marbella, in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
United’s decision to avoid travel to the Middle East follows the United States men’s national team cancelling their plans to train in Doha earlier this month.
The Foreign Office currently advises British citizens planning on travelling to either the UAE or Qatar to be wary of a “heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals”.
