Senior players would be expected to travel if the plans go ahead
Manchester United are weighing up a trip to Saudi Arabia for a mid-season friendly after a change to the Premier League calendar opened an unexpected window in their schedule.
United’s league meeting with Everton has been pushed back to 23 February, leaving Ruben Amorim’s side with no competitive fixture between games against West Ham on 10 February and Everton almost two weeks later. The gap has revived discussions about staging a lucrative friendly match in the Middle East.
The club have been exploring ways to generate additional revenue this season after missing out on European football. The absence of Champions League or Europa League fixtures has left United with fewer matchdays and a considerable shortfall in income. A high-profile friendly abroad is seen as one way of helping to offset those losses.
United earned around £7m from a short post-season tour of Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong last summer, and commercial figures inside the club believe a Saudi Arabia fixture could bring in a similar sum. Senior players would be expected to travel if the plans go ahead.
A final decision has not been made. United are waiting to see how their FA Cup campaign unfolds before committing to the trip. They face Brighton on 11 January, and if they win, they could play a fourth-round tie on the weekend of 14 February, which would disrupt the proposed travel plans.
Amorim has previously acknowledged that the club might need to play mid-season friendlies to balance the books this season.
Speaking earlier this season, he said: “We have to do it. And you know, we knew that when we missed out on Europe, we have a lot of things to do. We have our fans, we have the budget, we have to to compensate for a lot of things. So we have to do it.
“We want to be with our fans around the world. If you have to do it, you have to manage to find the space to do it.”
