Sir Alex Ferguson stressed that a mid-season trip to Saudi Arabia would benefit his players back in 2008, and now Manchester United could return for a similar trip.
After an array of shortcomings last season, Manchester United finished 15th in the Premier League and lost the Europa League final against Tottenham. This meant that Ruben Amorim’s side had failed to qualify for Europe.
United missed out on as much as £85 million by failing to qualify for the Champions League, so getting back into Europe’s most prestigious competition will be among Amorim’s top priorities this season.
The 2025/26 campaign has started slowly for the Red Devils, and they are already out of the Carabao Cup after losing on penalties against Grimsby Town in the second round.
Since there are no European football or Carabao Cup fixtures, United do not have a midweek fixture again until they host West Ham at Old Trafford in early December. That should allow United’s first team more time to work on tactics at Carrington, but Ineos are considering mid-season friendlies to raise funds.
United already embarked on a post-season tour last term to help raise funds for the summer transfer window. It could happen again at the end of the current campaign.
Sir Alex Ferguson saw benefit in Saudi Arabia trip
One possible destination being considered by United is Saudi Arabia.
There is no guarantee a trip will happen, but Ineos are weighing up their options because it would raise major funds for the club and help continue its financial recovery.
United already have connections in the Middle East with Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Al Nassr, although they could also face a Saudi Pro League XI like Paris Saint-Germain did in 2023.
However, United travelled to Saudi Arabia for a mid-season trip in 2008, just months before being crowned Champions League winners.
Not only did United take on Al Hilal, but they also completed a training camp, with Sir Alex Ferguson stressing that his players would benefit from training in warm conditions after travelling over 6,000 miles.
Interestingly, Bruno Fernandes turned down a move to Al-Hilal in the summer, so that is a potential fixture that has a backstory.
“We will have two good training sessions out here on Wednesday and Thursday in good, warm conditions, so that will definitely be an advantage to us before we go back to Manchester and we have made a decision to come out here which we hope will prove right,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“We have gone away before in mid-season and it has worked well for us. We went to Dubai a couple of years ago and we won the FA Cup at the end of that season.
“Obviously, if we go back home and get a bad result, then people will say that we shouldn’t have come here, but I’m sure that being here won’t do us any harm at all.
“We are delighted to be here and I just hope that the sun gets even warmer over the next few days!”
The biggest difference now, which could change Ferguson’s opinion on a mid-season friendly, is the number of games professional footballers have to play every year.
How Al-Hilal stunned Man Utd in 2008
In January 2008, United took on Al-Hilal in a testimonial match for Sami Al-Jabber.
The match was hosted by the Saudi royal family in the Arabian Peninsula. Yasser Al-Qahtani opened the scoring by taking advantage of a defensive error from Danny Simpson.
Carlos Tevez levelled the scoring after 25 minutes thanks to an assist from Ronaldo.
United made it 2-1 shortly after the equaliser when Ronaldo headed home a corner kick from Nani.
Al-Hilal were gifted a laughable penalty before Al-Jabber slotted the ball past Tomasz Kuszczak from the spot. They were given another controversial penalty in the opening stages of the second half, but Mohammad Al-Shalhoub sent his effort wide.
An overhead kick from Bader al-Khoraeshe secured the win for Al-Hilal, although substitute Danny Welbeck wasted an opportunity to equalise from the spot late on.
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