Manchester United to return to US for 2017 summer tour

Manchester: Manchester United are poised to return to the west coast of the US for the club’s summer tour and could play Manchester City as part of preparations for next season. The Los Angeles area is a favourite of Jose Mourinho, who has taken Chelsea, Real Madrid and Internazionale to California in pre-season.

United were last on the west coast in the summer of 2015 under Louis van Gaal, basing themselves in Seattle and San Jose. The previous year Van Gaal’s squad began the tour in LA, staying in Beverly Hills and training at the StubHub complex in the south of the city. Mourinho’s preference is to train at UCLA which is located in Westwood, in an area more part of the metropolis. United should have faced City in Beijing on the tour of China last summer but heavy rain meant the International Champions Cup match at the National Stadium on July 25 was cancelled. That did not leave United contractually obliged to play City but with the ICC schedule for next summer expected to be announced in January it is understood the two clubs may finally stage a first Manchester derby overseas as part of the tournament. Compensation owed for the cancelled game at the Bird’s Nest is still being decided, with this being underwritten by ICC insurers.