Manchester United faced significant backlash from fans over their decision to embark on a post-season tour to Asia, with the squad departing for Kuala Lumpur.

They kicked off their final game against Aston Villa at 4pm Sunday, and finished around 6pm. But by 10:20pm, the squad jumped on a plane and flew out to Asia.

The tour, featuring friendlies against ASEAN All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur on May 28th and Hong Kong, China on May 30th, has been criticised as a “money grab” driven by financial motives rather than player welfare.

Fans expressed frustration on social media, highlighting the gruelling schedule, especially after a disappointing season where the team reportedly finished 15th.

The tour is expected to generate £8 million, with the club citing the need for revenue, but supporters argue it prioritises commercial interests over player rest and recovery.

Manager Ruben Amorim apologised for the “disaster” of a season, acknowledging the tour’s necessity to support the club’s financial situation, while captain Harry Maguire defended the trip, stating the squad couldn’t complain given the global support for the club.

“FA Cup replays scrapped to “protect players” yet MUFC can fly 6,500 miles for two pointless friendlies in 48 hours.

“The Glazers & Ratcliffe don’t care about welfare or tradition.

“Meanwhile, the Premier League big club owners get more powerful.

“Their greed is destroying football At FC United, we believe in the tradition and the heritage of our game. Join us: https://fc-utd.co.uk/membership #WeAreStrongerUnited”

First stop: Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾🛫#MUTOUR25 || @MAS pic.twitter.com/bTz0TpYolt

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 25, 2025

Heading to Kuala Lumpur with @MAS 🙌#MUFC || #MUTOUR25 pic.twitter.com/p3PTqhkQ5t

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 25, 2025

Ruben’s squad for our Asian tour is locked in 🔐#MUFC || #MUTOUR25 pic.twitter.com/D8xIEO3v2V

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 26, 2025

Manchester ➡️ Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾🔴#MUTOUR25 || @MAS pic.twitter.com/XNGHSpB7Je

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 26, 2025

CLUB STATEMENT:

Ruben Amorim is taking a 32-man squad to Asia, ahead of Manchester United’s two post-season friendlies.

The Reds are facing ASEAN All-Stars and Hong Kong, China next week, on the back of the 2-0 Premier League victory over Aston Villa in our final domestic outing of the campaign. Both matches are being shown live on MUTV.

There is loads of experience in the group, with the vast majority of the first-team squad due to participate.

Netherlands internationals Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee are on the flight, obviously Lisandro Martinez is out due to injury and there is no Noussair Mazraoui, after he was forced off in the first half on Sunday and is having his injury assessed. Diogo Dalot was withdrawn at half-time, after earlier coming on as a substitute, but is making the trip.

Leny Yoro is absent, as he has been managing a small issue in recent weeks, but Andre Onana, Luke Shaw and Alejandro Garnacho are travelling, despite not featuring against Villa.

Of the three departures announced on the pitch, following the final whistle, Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen are not in the squad due to personal reasons, but experienced defender Jonny Evans is included, as he looks to say farewell to the club’s passionate support in the Far East.

Some of the Academy players involved include defenders Dan Armer, Godwill Kukonki and Reece Munro, midfielders Tyler Fletcher, Jack Moorhouse and Jim Thwaites, plus forward Shea Lacey, with the youngsters all set to gain valuable experience.

: Scrapped FA cup replays so these filth can play pre season friendlies…

: “Dan why don’t you do FA Cup games anymore?” Competition sold its soul for this kind of thing. “Too many games” was a cop out answer for the changes, the FA keeled over to the Premier League, it was never about fixture congestion, it was what had the most commercial benefit.

: Good that Maidenhead didn’t have their replay against Crawley though

: Team that’s gone missing all season flys with an airline famous for going missing 🤔🚮

: I beg managers of teams stop complaining about schedules and quantity of games when they’re doing end of season tours in Asia/N America after a 55 game season.

: @FA, @premierleague @EFL is this the reason lower league clubs have been fucked over. So the ‘Big clubs’ can make more money playing abroad as soon as they’re failed seasons are over. Bring back proper scheduling and give the game back to fans.

: I’m delighted that you get this opportunity instead of Weston-Super-Mare having the chance to take Bristol Rovers to a replay in the 1st round of the FA Cup. Enjoy it, you’ll never know when it’ll come around again… *Spoiler alert – it’ll be next season 🤦🏼‍♂️ Bore off

: Thank god Tamworth didn’t get their replay against Tottenham ey? Otherwise this lovely holiday couldn’t happen

: But teams don’t want to play FA Cup replays because of “too many games” is what we’ve heard all season

: Don’t forget to rest the players for the FA Cup though!!

: But denying lower league teams a reply is fine. ££££££ is all you care about.

: Lucky they scrapped the FACup replays or these boys would have been knackered. Manchester United Forever

: Scrapping FA Cup replays was worth it so a team coming 15th isn’t too tired for their world tour. Shame on you!

: Can’t play replays tho

: The absolute hypocrisy……… and they just don’t see it………. or want to see it 🤦🏻🤦🏻 Too many games. Players need rest. Elite athletes. Let’s scrap Cup replays, even in the rounds that we don’t compete in. Despise some of these supposed Big 6 🤣 clubs

: Always complaining about playing too many games and then just days after the season ends premier league clubs are playing friendlies on the other side of the world it’s ridiculous

@locknloads13:
Another Glazer cash grab tour
Followed by another 3 kits milked for weeks
Sign dogsh1t players
Fail again
Debt goes up stadium falls apart
Rinse and repeat
This is now our club
Fuelled by Glazer greed and Gaslighting
#GlazersOut