Red Devils at the Sports Hub in July?
Sources say Man United will play in the ICC in Singapore, with possibly Inter and Tottenham joining them
English Premier League side Manchester United will be coming to Singapore this year.
Sources familiar with the arrangement confirmed with The New Paper that United will be participating in the International Champions Cup (ICC) in Singapore in July, as part of their pre-season tour.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources said that at least two other prominent football clubs are also expected to be playing in Singapore as part of the competition.
TNP understands that one of the clubs are expected to make an announcement sometime next week that they will be coming to Asia.
Speculation has been rife that United will be coming to Singapore in July.
Fans of the Red Devils have been trading rumours that they will be playing a match against Italian giants Inter Milan on July 20 at the Singapore Sports Hub as part of the ICC.
TNP was able to trace one of the sources of the rumours in Singapore to a Facebook post made by a user on the Manchester United Supporters Club Singapore Facebook page on Monday.
The post was accompanied by an unverified screenshot listing the ICC matches for 2019 from July 20 to 25.
The list, which was in Chinese, claimed that United will be playing Inter in Singapore on July 20, while Tottenham Hotspur will be playing either Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus or Chelsea on July 21.
Responding to queries from TNP, spokesmen from United and Inter said they were unable to provide confirmation of the rumours, but did not deny them.
The spokesman for the Old Trafford outfit said they were "still working on preparations" and have yet to announce further dates, while the spokesman for Inter said their plans for the summer tour have "not been confirmed yet".
The ICC, an annual competition involving the elite clubs played in various cities, including the US and Singapore, saw another EPL side, Arsenal, at the National Stadium last year.
About 50,000 fans saw the Gunners thrash French champions PSG 5-1. The third club in Singapore last year were Spain's Atletico Madrid.
A spokesman for Relevant, the organisers of the ICC, told TNP yesterday that details regarding which clubs are participating will be announced at the end of next month.
"We are excited about the progress we are making in the planning of 2019 ICC Singapore, which will feature some of biggest and most successful clubs in the world," she said.
"More information on the July matches will be updated on https://www.internationalchampionscup.com/territories/sg."
TNP understands that the announcement date has been tentatively set for March 27, and that a former star from each club will be coming down to Singapore to make the announcement.
Diehard fan Khim Yap, 48, the director of a marketing agency, said the rumours have fuelled his excitement and that of his family, but he is worried that getting tickets for the four of them might prove difficult.
"It'll be challenging as there are loads of Man United fans here in Singapore," he said.
"We went to Old Trafford in 2017 and we hope to see (United manager) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lead the team out in Singapore.
"My two kids and I are super excited. We are all huge Manchester United fans and we'd love the opportunity to see the team play live again."
SPORTS HUB HAS FALLEN SHORT OF ITS PROMISES
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