Liverpool Reportedly Planning Manchester United Pre-Season Friendlies

In the past, Liverpool’s pre-season could be counted on to reliably include a trip to Asia or North America alongside brief stages spent to train and play games in Europe and locally. Last season, the coronavirus pandemic made that impossible.

This summer, it’s likely the Reds will again be sticking close to home, but just what shape pre-season could take hasn’t yet been confirmed by the club—but we may have a good idea thanks to Manchester United’s pre-season plans being leaked.

That’s because Liverpool’s historic rivals are said to be set to play five pre-season warm up games, with two of them coming against the Reds and both of those games being local, with one to be played at Old Trafford and the other at Anfield.

While their pre-season schedule hasn’t been finalised, the Manchester Evening News say a general plan has been decided that would likely include those two games against Liverpool with three more to then take place at stadiums in Europe.

If that is in fact the case, then it would also go a long way to confirming a significant portion of Liverpool’s pre-season—and to suggest that while Asia or North America may be off the cards, a few European pre-season stops might be coming.

Liverpool’s last pre-season tour before the pandemic saw them face Tranmere and Bradford in England before heading to the United States for the second year in a row. They then returned to Europe for games in Scotland and Switzerland.