Manchester United's £16m Pre-Season Tour in Doubt Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

29 March 2020 10:21

​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.

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 an appearance fee of around £3.25m every time they took to the pitch. Additionally, other expenses could have seen that figure bumped up to £4m, taking their earnings to around £16m.

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. Until we have clarity on when this season might finish and the next one starts, the tour remains under review.

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"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. 


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Source: 90min