MANCHESTER UNITED’S money-spinning pre-season tour – which is to include their first ever game in India – could be off due to coronavirus.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were set to pocket £16million from the five fixtures planned for July and early August.
But The Mirror say the globe-trotting extravaganza is set to be just the latest sporting event to fall victim to the pandemic.
United officials were close to putting pen to paper on a deal that would guarantee the games take place at a time players are normally building fitness levels back up.
But with the future of football still up in the air – and Euro 2020 pushed back to 2021 – it looks like the plans might have to be shelved.
United charge an appearance fee of around £3.25million for each first-team game, while additional expenses are set to push the figure up to £4million per match.
A United spokesman 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.
“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.”
Last summer’s tour saw United play games in Australia, Singapore, China, Norway and Wales.
But with the timetable of this season still so uncertain, any plans for foreign tours are far from top priority.
One radical proposal is for Premier League stars to be BANNED from going home and forced to live together so football can kick off again in June.
Top-flight clubs, players and the PFA are desperate to finish the campaign — even though the remaining fixtures would be behind closed doors.
And that could see the squads of all 20 teams staying at separate locations — with no chance of going home to their families — until the season is finally over.
Keeping a team isolated as a unit would make it easier to prevent Covid-19 from spreading.
Uefa have also made it clear they want the season to finish in August so they avoid losing billions in TV money.
