Manchester United could earn £10m if they finalize mid-season trip to Saudi Arabia

Hupu News on October 8th, "Daily Mail" updated this week's "Manchester United Insider" special issue. The third part is about Manchester United going overseas to participate in friendly matches and earning huge amounts of money.

According to industry sources, if Manchester United reaches an agreement to compete in Saudi Arabia this season, the club is expected to earn more than 10 million pounds.

Manchester United is seeking to fill the gap in the schedule and the club's financial gap by arranging mid-season friendlies, and Saudi Arabia is one of the options currently being discussed.

In the Europa League final held in Bilbao last season, Manchester United lost to Tottenham Hotspur and failed to advance to the Champions League. This result caused the club to lose 100 million pounds. This includes £10 million that needs to be refunded to Adidas under the terms of the £900 million shirt sponsorship deal.

In May this year, Manchester United went to Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong to compete at the end of the season and earned 8 million pounds. If the club competes in Saudi Arabia during the Riyadh season (which starts this Friday and lasts until March next year), the club may receive higher income.

Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, led by Turki Alashq, announced its preliminary schedule on Monday, which includes a high-profile football match.

One of the three options facing Manchester United is to participate in the "Riyadh Season Cup". It is a three-way tournament involving two of the Saudi capital's top clubs - Cristiano Ronaldo's Riyadh Victory and Darwin Nunez's Riyadh Crescent. In February this year, Messi's Inter Miami also participated in the event.

If Manchester United participates, it is expected to earn about 5 million pounds per game; if it wins the championship, it will receive more bonuses. In addition, if the stay in Saudi Arabia is extended, the club can also earn additional income through commercial cooperation.

The second option is to take a short visit and play an exhibition game with the Saudi All-Star team. Similar to the one involving Paris Saint-Germain in January 2023, this option could bring in nearly £5 million for Manchester United.

The third option is that Manchester United can negotiate with the Saudi royal family or the General Entertainment Authority to host a warm-weather training camp in Riyadh and arrange a single game - most likely against the Riyadh Victory team - which can also bring about 5 million pounds in revenue to the club.

This income is much higher than Manchester United's income in January 2008. At that time, Sir Alex Ferguson led a team including Ronaldo to Saudi Arabia to hold a memorial match for Sami Aljaber with the Riyadh Crescent team. They lost 2-3 and only received 1 million pounds.

Of all the options facing United, the oil-rich country is likely to bear the cost of the team's transport, accommodation and warm-weather training facilities.

For the second time in 35 years, Manchester United failed to qualify for any European competition, which left a large number of gaps in the club's schedule. The loss to League Two team Grimsby Town in the first round of the League Cup made this problem even worse. There was more than three months between the penalty shootout defeat at Cleethorpes and the midweek game against West Ham United in early December.

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