Wednesday 15 January 2020 11:46, UK
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed the club have decided against travelling to the Middle East in the upcoming 'winter break' due to the rising political tensions in the region.
The decision follows a similar move by the USA national team to cancel a planned training camp in Qatar after Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad earlier this month.
Solskjaer says the club will instead find somewhere in Europe to hold their mid-season recovery camp in February.
"I'm going to give them a few days off, I don't know where the players will scatter around but we will stay in Europe," Solskjaer said.
"Yep [we changed our mind]. If there is one thing that worries me, it is not on the football pitch. There are things that will worry me more than the football.
"We were looking at the Middle East but that is definitely not going to happen."
A number of other clubs, including Celtic and Rangers, spent their mid-season breaks across December and January in the Middle East.
Both Old Firm clubs remained in Dubai after the tensions had flared up, while being guided by official advice from the Foreign Office at the time.
