Boss takes flight to States knowing he needs fast start
THE United squad travelled to Los Angeles on Sunday night.
The first remarks from our Uber driver upon learning our nationality was: ‘You guys should be so proud’, a reference to England’s recent World Cup campaign.
United’s departure date was slightly surprising, given it coincided with the World Cup final, but the flight time was late enough to allow the travelling players to watch Paul Pogba become the third United World Cup winner after Nobby Stiles and Sir Bobby Charlton.
The 8pm flight should also have eased the players’ jet lag, given the eight-hour time difference between the United Kingdom and LA.
The feeling among the written press on the tour is United and Mourinho desperately need another fast start to their season. Mourinho is due to speak ahead of the first friendly against Club America in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday evening (that’s Friday morning, UK time).
Our Saturday morning flight was devoid of any football shirts, never mind United replicas. The expense of following United across a vast country is too steep for some of the most avid almanacs and it is what made the sudden arrangement of their friendly with Wigan two years ago so welcoming.
Jose Mourinho was inaugurated with a local away day by matchgoers who drowned out Will Grigg’s on Fire with cries of ‘United’ as kick-off approached and Mourinho was so struck by the support he mentioned it in his post-match debrief.
The club should revisit the idea of arranging nearby exhibition matches while also accommodating the commercial obligations with their continental jaunts. Liverpool played at Tranmere, Chester and Bury earlier this month.
United took 27 players to the United States a year ago, although Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Ashley Young were non-playing selections.
A 24-man squad trained at Carrington over the past week but Sergio Romero resurfaced at Manchester Airport on Sunday night amid confusion over his absence from the midweek training footage and photos.
Daley Blind has stayed behind ahead of completing his return to Ajax, but United continue to protect Matteo Darmian’s re-sale value.
The Italian was pictured at The Lowry Hotel with Blind earlier this week, seemingly on standby ahead of his own possible transfer back to Italy.
Needless to say, Darmian and Blind are not permanent residents at The Lowry, unlike their manager.
Just like last year, United will train at the UCLA, where their coach motored past Real Madrid’s stationary bus 12 months ago to symbolise the Alvaro Morata negotiations.
Julia Roberts, Game of Thrones actors, Nico Rosberg and the lead singer from Snow Patrol were among the visitors to United’s training base in 2017.