Plans for Manchester United's lucrative £16m pre-season tour have been temporarily halted as the coronavirus pandemic continues to have serious implications across the footballing world.
Premier League football has been put on hold until 30 April at the earliest, but there are growing concerns that the season may by cancelled entirely and all results deemed null and void.
Major sporting events have been postponed by 12 months already, with Euro 2020 and this summer's Olympic Games now to take place in 2021. Push-backs are occurring across the board, and it looks like respective clubs' pre-seasons are also being impacted.
Stay home. #ProtectTheNHS. Save lives.#MUFC @NHSuk pic.twitter.com/00hVgwwvxd
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) March 28, 2020
How pre-seasons will play out this year is still not known, as any decision will be made when an agreement is decided on how the current campaign will be played out. As such, the Mirror have revealed United's £16m tour is being put on hold for the time being.
United officials had been on the cusp of agreeing contracts for five pre-season fixtures across July and August.
The tour was set to include a game in India, with United charging
A club spokesperson said: "The proposed tour hasn't been cancelled, but it's on hold until we can determine a timeline for a return to playing football again.
"It may be that it will have to adapted, delayed or suspended, depending on what is decided by football's governing bodies – but we have definitely not scrapped it yet."
Delaying negotiations has become the plan of action for now, but how likely it is that any pre-seasons - let alone United's - will be able to go ahead in the planned months remains shrouded in uncertainty.
For more from Ross Kennerley, follow him on Twitter!
Source: 90min