Manchester United's entire new football leadership team made a show of attending the squad's first training session on the US tour at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.
INEOS sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, new CEO Omar Berrada, recently-appointed sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox were all present at the extended session, and were joined by majority owner Avram Glazer.
United's 29-man squad trained in the morning at their California base, home for the next eight days, having only arrived the night before following a 12-hour direct flight from Manchester.
United hosted a football match for social media influencers at UCLA yesterday, in partnership with their kit sponsor adidas. Steve Bartlett, of Dragons Den fame, was flown to Los Angeles by United, to take part in the commercial event, which was also attended by several first-team players and staff.
The event was a cause for celebration, with United boasting record sales for their new navy away kit, which was launched just 24 hours earlier.
One of the benefits of United staying away from the glare of Beverly Hills, in the SLS Hotel on the outskirts of the famous shopping mecca of Los Angeles, is the relative anonymity it affords its players and staff.
There were no fans waiting outside United's hotel yesterday, an unthinkable prospect in the Far East or if they were staying in a more salubrious location.
But that did not stop one eagle-eyed fan spotting former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, now a member of Erik ten Hag's coaching staff, spotting him walking with goalkeeping coach Jelle ten Rouwelaar and asking the Old Trafford legend for a selfie.
Unlike most folk who fly from the UK to the west coast of America, United winger Jadon Sancho is clearly not afflicted by jet lag. Within half-an-hour of boarding United's chartered flight from Manchester to Los Angeles, Sancho was fast asleep, allegedly snoring, only waking when the plane touched down in California.
Given that prolonged sleep, Sancho's team-mates assumed the 24-year-old, back at United after making his peace with boss Erik ten Hag, would have been wide awake on arrival in LA and struggling to get some shut-eye once they arrived at the team hotel.
But Sancho then told his colleagues he had managed to sleep for eight hours on arrival at the hotel, meaning he was surely the most well-rested of Ten Hag's squad ahead of their first training session.
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2024-07-26T09:26:25Z dg43tfdfdgfd