Michael Carrick needs all the help he can get ahead of his first full season as Man Utd manager, and the club have already secured a big advantage.
The transfer window has been largely lukewarm so far, with the hope being that it picks up the pace after the end of the World Cup.
Meanwhile, Michael Carrick will have the players return for pre-season from July 6, with the first friendly on July 18th.
He will have to prove that his interim spell was not a fluke, and the club have already helped him by getting a potentially key advantage over their rivals.
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Man Utd’s advantage over Premier League rivals
Next season in the Premier League will be somewhat of a transitional season, as the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, and Spurs will all have new managers.
In that sense, Carrick will have a head start of around six months over his rivals, but that’s not even the biggest advantage.
That begins before the start of pre-season itself, where United are the only team to have all of their pre-season friendlies in Europe.
For comparison, Liverpool go to the USA, Chelsea to Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Australia, and City go to Hong Kong.
In a pre-season already in the middle of a World Cup, meaning no rest for international players, those are some serious miles to be travelled.
Arsenal have announced just one pre-season game, which is in Ireland, but they will add more dates, and it won’t be a surprise if they travel far.
In contrast, all of United’s games are in Scandinavia and Poland, so the players will start the season with match fitness, but without any travel fatigue.
Top-level sports is all about margins, and United might just have secured themselves a huge marginal gain with their pre-season planning.
United’s European tour cements backing for Michael Carrick
The reason why United have been able to secure a European tour instead of a more lucrative long trip is because of Michael Carrick.
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Everyone remembers how United had to go on a post-season tour last season when they failed to qualify for the UCL and finished 15th.
United could afford to leave those millions on the table this time because Carrick secured UCL football for them.
In return, he has been given the opportunity to stay laser-focused on sporting preparation instead of getting sidetracked by commercial responsibilities.
This has given United a competitive advantage going into next season, and Carrick needs to cement it now by getting United off to a flying start.
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