Two Manchester United players are set to travel more than 37,000 miles over the summer as they combine international duty with playing two post-season friendlies for their clubs.
Alejandro Garnacho and Manuel Ugarte will represent their national teams in South America ten days after United’s final game of the Premier League season on May 25. However, the club are finalising plans to play friendlies in Malaysia and Hong Kong within that window, which would result in the pair travelling just under 20,000 miles in ten days.
Sources close to the players have suggested they are alarmed by the prospect of travelling so much after a gruelling season. The PFA and several Premier League managers have recently voiced concerns that players are being forced to play too many matches amid fear of burnout and increased injury risk.
Garnacho, 20, represents Argentina, who play away to Chile on June 4 before travelling to Buenos Aires to face Colombia five days later. Ugarte, the 23-year-old Uruguay midfielder, will fly to Paraguay for a World Cup qualifier in Asuncion on June 4, before heading back to his home country for a meeting with Venezuela in Montevideo on June 9. Advertisement • Thomas Tuchel’s England era is here. What’s changed? Both players may have to travel more than 10,000 miles from Hong Kong to represent their respective countries, before adapting to a time difference of 11 hours. The pair will then have to report back for pre-season in Manchester before potentially, if selected, jetting off to Sweden to play Leeds United at Stockholm’s Strawberry Arena on July 19. Thanks to their progression in the Europa League, the pair and their team-mates Bruno Fernandes, far right, and Amad Diallo could play another 14 games before the end of the season, including a potential Europa League final in Bilbao on May 21 MB MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES Their pre-season will continue in the United States for the Premier League Summer Series, which begins on July 26, where they will face West Ham United and Bournemouth before their final game against Everton on August 3, 70 days from the final game of the season. Those three matches are being played in New Jersey, Chicago and Atlanta, meaning Ruben Amorim’s side will clock up 1,300 miles in the US alone. The 2025-26 Premier League season starts on the weekend of August 16-17. United have been in partnership with Malaysia Airlines since March last year and have a large following in the region, with some reports suggesting the post-season tour could make the club £8million. Advertisement Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur were both criticised last season for playing a friendly in Melbourne five days after the end of the season. Newcastle also faced the A-League All Stars in the city two days later. Premier League managers and players have spoken out against the tight fixture schedule throughout this season, with some even hinting at the need for strike action. Asked in September last year if that were a possibility, Rodri, the Manchester City midfielder, replied: “If it keeps this way, it will be a moment that we have no other option.” The PFA’s chief executive, Maheta Molango, also warned that players “need to be protected” to prevent burnout and reduce the risk of young talents having to cut their careers short. After Kai Havertz’s season-ending hamstring injury in February, the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta called it “an accident waiting to happen” in reference to his players being overworked due to the volume of fixtures.
