‘Man United pair refused to travel on post-season Asia tour’
Man United had two players push back against travel to Asia for their post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong and subsequently did not go.
Despite closing out the campaign with a controversial 2-0 win over Aston Villa, this season has been the club’s worst this century.
Hundreds of Man United’s staff have been sacked, Marcus Rashford was frozen out of the squad, Tottenham won the Europa League final, and Ruben Amorim’s side slumped to a disappointing 15th-place finish.
In a desperate bid to escape the scrutiny the Red Devils are under, whilst also boosting the club’s coffers, the 20-time champions of England jetted off for a post-season tour of Asia.
But according to The Athletic‘s United correspondent, Laurie Whitwell, two of the club’s players chose not to join the squad abroad.
Christian Eriksen, Victor Lindelof refuse to join Man United in Asia
As reported, the club “had originally tried to make Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen join the travelling party”.
But with the Swedish defender’s wife heavily pregnant and the Danish midfielder getting married, “the pair pushed back”.
Without those personal reasons, Whitwell revealed the club would have expected them to join the trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong, even though both have contracts that will finish at the end of June.
Man United players ‘fuming’ after news of Asia trip
Football Insider Verdict
In the same article Whitwell revealed that, according to several sources, United’s players were “fuming” after finding out about the plans to head to Asia.
After a gruelling season that saw the club compete both domestically and in Europe, the players travelled straight from their final game of the season at Old Trafford to Manchester airport before jetting off.
Given the already fraught relationships within United, not least between Alejandro Garnacho and Amorim, further exacerbating the issue by forcing players to jet off on a commercially-motivated post-season tour is a strange choice to say the least.
The summer break seemed to present itself as the perfect opportunity for the players and staff to take a break and refocus their efforts on improving results next season.
Instead, United’s tour of Asia ended up being a farce. The team lost to the ASEAN All-Stars, a collection of players who had never played together before their match against the Red Devils, whilst Amad’s middle finger to fans [MailOnline] highlighted the tense state of affairs within the club.