Man united plan post-season trip to asia amid ruben amorim "engine" claim

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RUBEN AMORIM'S MANCHESTER UNITED COULD BE SET TO FOLLOW TOTTENHAM AND NEWCASTLE IN PLANNING POST-SEASON FRIENDLIES FOLLOWING THEIR CONTROVERSIAL TRIP TO AUSTRALIA LAST MAY 14:59, 26 Feb


2025Updated 13:30, 27 Feb 2025 Manchester United are planning a post-season trip to Asia immediately after the Premier League finishes at the end of May. Tottenham and Newcastle both jetted


to Australia for an end-of-season friendly last year - a move that was described as "madness" by Alan Shearer. "Stupid" and "crazy" were among the other words


used to describe the decision to fly out to that side of the world after the season had ended. But, according to the BBC, United are set to become the latest team to set up a post-season


tour. Ruben Amorim's side are expected to play two matches in Malaysia and Hong Kong following their final Premier League game of the season against Aston Villa at Old Trafford on


Sunday, May 25. United have a huge following in Malaysia and Malaysian Airlines is their official commercial airline partner. They last played in the country during Sir Alex Ferguson's


time at the club in 2009, while the same can be said for Hong Kong as United have not visited there since 2013. While nothing has been confirmed as of yet, it's looking certain that


United are going to head to the Far East for two matches against opposition that hasn't yet been agreed. Article continues below United have a six-day window to get those fixtures in,


however, as players need to be released for international duty after the Champions League final is played on Saturday, May 31. Should United go ahead with post-season tour plans, there is no


doubt going to be huge backlash considering the already high number of matches in the football calendar. The increased demand on elite players has been discussed this season with


FIFA's expanded Club World Cup and UEFA's bigger Champions League and Europa League format, resulting in FA Cup replays being scrapped to ease congestion. It also comes a matter of


days after United confirmed a second round of redundancies that will lead to up to 200 staff members losing their jobs. Although bringing in a considerable amount of revenue from


commercial, broadcasting and matchday income has helped, they have lost more than £300million over the last five years. Article continues below Speaking in an interview on Tuesday, Ruben


Amorim admitted he has to accept the responsibility to drive up revenue as being the "engine" of the club. One way to increase revenue is by heading over to Asia for post-season


matches, while another is looking at continuing their oversees pre-season schedule. United are set to return to the United States next summer as part of the Premier League's pre-season


tournament, beginning in late July, after the Club World Cup has finished. Manchester City and Chelsea are the two Premier League teams that are playing in the inaugural FIFA tournament.