The Red Devils have announced another pre-season friendly.
There was a brief period when Manchester United fans felt that they were in with a decent chance of competing for the Premier League title as Mourinho made the perfect start to life Old Trafford.
Three wins from his three opening league games gave United supporters hope and there’s no denying that Mourinho benefited from having a core group of players to work with over the summer.
Last year, United had six pre-season friendlies including the Community Shield against Leicester City, but as we saw during his time at Chelsea, Mourinho puts a huge emphasis on the quantity of games that his players play in pre-season.
In fact, various interviews have stressed that some of Chelsea’s problems in 2015 stemmed from their pre-season schedule.
Well, with confirmation that Manchester United will travel to Dublin to take on Italian outfit Sampdoria at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday, August 2, Mourinho’s men are facing the prospect of playing eight pre-season matches before the Premier League campaign even starts on the weekend of 12 August 2017.
Seven pre-season games, maybe an eighth if in Super Cup, for Man Utd. Jose will be tired before the season even starts…
— Mark Ogden (@MarkOgden_) May 22, 2017
Our latest #UNMISSABLE fixture for #MUTOUR, presented by @Aon_plc – United v Sampdoria in Dublin on 2 August! https://t.co/SUuIoqWWm2 pic.twitter.com/b2B2LhDOba
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 22, 2017
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, MLS opposition in the United States and an encounter with Norwegian side Valerenga in Oslo are already in Man Utd’s schedule.
If Manchester United are successful in their Europa League final against Ajax, they’ll also have the Super Cup against either Real Madrid or Juventus to contend with on August 8th.
Commenting on the club’s summer plans, United’s executive vice chairman, Ed Woodward, said: “The team has a good variety of games over the summer, playing in great stadiums and allowing a large number of our global family of fans to see live games across the world. The pre-season programme has been put together to ensure the manager and his squad have a great platform to prepare for next season with games against top-class opposition.”
There’s one thing that’s certain, United’s strength and conditioning team will be working overtime this summer.
