United looking to arrange friendly after cancellation
UNITED are exploring the possibility of arranging at least one more friendly before the Premier League season resumes, despite seeing a planned fixture against Stoke City called off at the 11th hour.
The Reds were due to play the Championship outfit at Carrington on Tuesday but after Stoke City’s players and officials had arrived at the training ground the Potters were informed that their manager, Michael O’Neill, had tested positive for Covid-19 in a test carried out on Monday.
While the Stoke players, who had travelled to Carrington individually, returned home, United played another training game between the squad, the second in four days, having played at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Now the club are set to look at other opportunities to play friendly fixtures against external opposition before they resume their Premier League campaign at Tottenham Hotspur on Friday, June 19.
While United’s players have now twice played inter-squad games, including one at an empty Old Trafford as they get used to playing behind closed doors when the season gets back underway, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is keen for at least one competitive run-out before the action resumes.
United haven’t played since winning the first leg of their last-16 Europa League tie at LASK Linz 5-0 on Thursday, March 12, with the season placed on hold the following day amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The campaign gets back underway behind closed doors next week, but with all teams going at least three months without a fixture they are looking to arrange friendlies to build some match sharpness into their training routines.
With the Championship season also resuming on the weekend of June 20, there is the possibility of Premier League and Championship sides playing each other, with West Bromwich Albion mooted as another potential opponent for Solskjaer’s side.
While friendlies before the season restarts have been given the green light, there is a strict list of protocols that clubs must adhere to, which includes players travelling in their own cars and a limit of 90 minutes travelling time to reach the venue, which is why Stoke and West Brom have been considered as possible opposition.
Under those protocols, players and staff from United and Stoke City hadn’t mixed on Tuesday before the Championship club were informed of O’Neill’s positive test. At that point the game was called off and Stoke’s squad and staff left Carrington.
With no contact between the two groups, United will wait until the next round of Premier League testing for Covid-19 later this week, rather than carrying out any additional tests, with Premier League protocols already seeing players and staff tested twice a week.