Manchester United in talks to play in SAR on summer tour
The Hong Kong national team are being courted to provide the opposition for Manchester United on the English giants' planned visit to the SAR as part of next summer's tour, but the Hong Kong Football Association won't be risking millions of dollars to bring them here.
The four-match tour in July and August next year, which will include two games in Japan, a match against Chinese Super League club Beijing Hyundai Guoan on July 26 and, provisionally, a game in Hong Kong, is being arranged by international sports marketing giant IMG which holds the rights to the trip.
'We'll be having formal announcements with senior people from Manchester United coming out in due course. I can't say anything more than that,' said Malcolm Thorpe, the Hong Kong-based international vice-president for IMG Asia, who did confirm that the Red Devils' visit would be co-ordinated from IMG's office in Causeway Bay.
Having been undercut by rival cities in their attempts to attract Barcelona for their 90th anniversary celebrations, the Hong Kong Football Association was also reluctant to comment, or even to admit that that the national team were the side being talked about as the possible opposition for the seven-time Premier League champions.
'There is a promoter trying to bring Manchester United to Hong Kong. We welcome that and our discussions have been positive so far,' was all that HKFA general secretary Martin Lam Chun-ying was willing to say on the subject.
The only other likely contender for the right to play the Old Trafford club would be ambitious Kitchee, who this year organised their own games against AC Milan (who they beat) and Newcastle United, but chief executive Ken Ng Kin quickly scotched the suggestion.