Manchester United Are Contemplating Playing Lucrative Friendly Matches Abroad During Champions League Calender

Manchester United are thinking about playing midweek friendlies abroad, says one of the club's directors.



With no Champions League football this season, United's managing director Richard Arnold says lucrative fixtures overseas are something the club will "continue to look at".



The club's early Capital One Cup exit has reduced the number of midweek games they will play still further.



And they are set to play only three more midweek Premier League fixtures.


United won the Champions League as recently as 2008, but their seventh-place finish last season under subsequently sacked manager David Moyes meant they missed out on European club football's premier
competition for the first time in 19 years this season.






More than 100,000 fans watched United's 3-1 win over Real Madrid in Michigan this summer during the
side's pre-season tour of the United States.




And Arnold believes manager Louis van Gaal would be receptive to similar fixtures during the Premier
League campaign.



"We have a fantastic partnership in terms of our work off the pitch and I'm very appreciative of the support we have had from him," Arnold said.


"For many years of our [pre-season] international tours, there is a plan to ensure we get that team building that goes together with getting the team all together in one place.



"That's something that's being looked at with regards to the future."



Meanwhile, United striker Robin van Persie says Van Gaal is installing a Dutch mentality on the squad's meetings.



"It's very demanding in a good way as you have to be focused every single day of the sessions or the meeting," Van Persie says.


"You have to give your own input, which is what the staff likes.
That's a bit of the Dutch thing."