Manchester United’s stars will land in Los Angeles later on Wednesday relieved that there will be no repeat of the heavy schedule that clogged up their tour to the US last summer.

In particular, it was felt that the game against Real Madrid in Houston, which involved Erik ten Hag and his players making a whistle-stop round trip of more than 2,600 miles to return to their base in San Diego, was a tipping point.

There were concerns that the arduous pre-season was a factor in United’s chronic injury problems last season. Kobbie Mainoo injured his ankle in the 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid and did not return to the squad until November.

In total last summer, United played eight games – including a youth team taking on Wrexham in San Diego – and travelled 15,236 miles between Manchester, Oslo, Edinburgh, New Jersey, San Diego, Houston and Vegas.

This summer that has been cut to six games – including the Community Shield against Manchester City on August 10 – and 13,614 miles between Manchester, Trondheim, Edinburgh, LA, San Diego and South Carolina.

Bags of trouble for reporters

Half the press pack who travelled to Los Angeles for the United tour are still without their luggage after two days in the US.

Most of the problems were caused by a baggage pile-up at Heathrow as the reporters flew down from Manchester to catch connecting flights. While they flew with a variety of different airlines to California, their luggage stayed in London.

However, another journalist travelling through Dublin realised when he landed in LA that his baggage receipt belonged to someone else. His luggage is now believed to be back in Manchester.

On Tuesday, the group set off on a shopping trip for new clothes and essentials still in the dark about when they will be repatriated with their bags.

Ten Hag takes stars back to college

United will be based at the University of California in Los Angeles for the majority of the tour, having chosen the college’s sister campus in San Diego for their training camp last summer.

Sir Alex Ferguson brought his players to UCLA and it was a favourite destination for Jose Mourinho during his spells as manager of United and Chelsea.

United will still travel to San Diego to play Real Betis next week after kicking off against Arsenal in LA in the early hours of Sunday, before facing Liverpool in Columbia, South Carolina on August 4.

A strong squad will travel out here including new £59million signing Leny Yoro who made his debut against Rangers at Murrayfield on Saturday. 

But the six players who reached the semi-finals and beyond of Euro 2024 and Copa America – Mainoo, Luke Shaw, Joshua Zirkzee, Lisandro Martinez, Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Pellistri – will return from holiday too late to be part of the tour.

United set for Gunners sell-out

United’s opening tour game against Arsenal at the 70,000-capacity SoFi Stadium in LA is expected to be a sell-out – even though the most expensive seats are selling for £520.

The two Premier League heavyweights also filled the 82,000-seater MetLife Stadium in New Jersey a year ago in a game which ended 2-0 to United.

However, Arsenal have faced some unlikely competition from Wrexham here in California as they prepare to meet Bournemouth at the Dignity Health Stadium in Carson, home to the LA Galaxy, on Wednesday.

Wrexham, who have boomed in popularity Stateside since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club in 2020, drew a crowd of 13,500 for their game against Bournemouth in Santa Barbara on Saturday.

Ticket sales for Arsenal versus Bournemouth have been around the same mark, although it’s hoped that more fans will turn up on the night.

Roche: We take women’s team seriously

United have tried to ease concerns over their commitment to the club’s women’s team under new co-owners Ineos.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe raised eyebrows in an interview with Bloomberg last month when asked about the women who had just won the FA Cup, saying: ‘We haven’t gone into that level of detail with the women’s football team.’

Ratcliffe and other senior Ineos executives watched the men’s clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford on May 12 while co-chairman Avram Glazer represented the club at Wembley where United’s women beat Tottenham to lift their first trophy.

The women have also vacated their new £11million HQ at Carrington and moved into portable facilities this season so the men’s squad can use it while the rest of the training ground is undergoing a £50m revamp.

At a recent fans’ forum, it was put to chief operating officer Collette Roche why no senior Ineos representatives had been to watch the women’s team.

Roche replied: ‘We have heard the concerns and frustrations that some fans have been expressing. But don’t lose sight of the progress made in just six years since the team was reformed.

‘We have firmly established ourselves as a leading WSL team and won our first major trophy at Wembley in May in our second consecutive FA Cup final. Our Under-21 and Under-16 women’s academy teams also won trophies last season, reflecting the strong focus we are putting on youth development.

‘Headlines claiming a lack of commitment could not be further from the truth: we are fully committed to building a strong position in the women’s game for the long-term.’

Fans will have a say if Old Trafford is renamed

Roche also tried to reassure fans who are concerned that naming rights to Old Trafford could be sold off if the stadium is rebuilt.

Although United share Ratcliffe’s vision to bulldoze United’s home for 114 years, redevelopment is still a possibility if the costs are too high.

Either way, Roche told the fans’ forum that supporters would be consulted if selling the naming rights to Old Trafford is ever considered.

‘You may have seen the media speculation around naming rights and ticket prices – and it was just that: speculation,’ she said.

‘We must look at all possible funding options, but it’s still early stages with no decisions made. What we can promise is that fans – through this forum and other channels – will be kept informed and consulted every step of the way.’