Dubai: After Monday’s announcement that Real Madrid and AC Milan will play a friendly at Dubai’s Sevens Stadium on December 30, it now seems Manchester United want in on the act too.
The record 20-time English champions are looking for lucrative overseas friendlies to fill the midweek void left by the absence of European football and an early League Cup exit this season. United only have one midweek game scheduled between now and the end of 2014 and just three in the first three months of 2015.
The Red Devils have forecast a 10 per cent drop in revenue in 2014/15 after they finished seventh in the English Premier League (EPL) last season and failed to qualify for the Uefa Champions League.
So the UAE could be the perfect place to recoup their losses, re-charge both their batteries and brand and build team spirit ahead of the business end of the season.
United came here last winter and trained at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, while staying at the One and Only Royal Mirage Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah. They were even treated to an impromptu training session with Dubai-based Argentinian legend Diego Maradona, but they have yet to reward their fans in the region with a long-awaited exhibition game.
However, the summer arrivals of Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria have increased the club’s bargaining power for lucrative friendlies, and the UAE could soon see the three-time European champions having to cash in on their fanbase here.
“That’s something we continue to look at, as always making sure that the preparations we do on the pitch come first,” United’s managing director Richard Arnold told The Associated Press when asked to comment on winter break friendlies.
“For many years of our [pre-season] international tours, there is a plan to ensure we get that team building that goes together with getting the team all together in one place. That’s something that’s being looked at with regards to the future [friendlies] with [coach] Louis [Van Gaal].”
Shortly after taking charge, Van Gaal was critical of this summer’s pre-season tour of the United States, saying that obligations to sponsors and the distances the team had to travel were “not very positive for a good preparation” for the EPL campaign.
But Arnold insisted Van Gaal was open to taking on more commercial ventures.
“I can only speak positively of my experience with the manager in terms of his understanding of what’s required to get a first-class team onto the pitch and also what’s required for running a club of our magnitude,” he said.
“We have a fantastic partnership in terms of our work off the pitch and I’m very positive of the support we have had from him.”
Van Gaal has followed on from David Moyes’ disappointing ten-month tenure with just two wins from the first seven games of the season. But, despite the slump in results, the Glazer family-owned club remains English football’s biggest money-maker, with revenue up 19 per cent to a club record £433 million [Dh1.5 billion] last season.
On Monday, United announced their latest commercial deal with sustainable technology partner Abengoa, proving their sponsorship operation hasn’t slowed as a result of former coach Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 after winning 38 trophies in 26 years.
“We find current form does not figure highly in the reasons to partner or not partner,” said Arnold, who pointed to the club’s 659 million global followers.
— With inputs from agencies
