Manchester United youngsters set for week-long trial under Erik ten Hag

Hosting a World Cup in Qatar is as morally abhorrent as it was in December 2010 when Sepp Blatter revealed the nation on a postcard.

Bloodied hands will clutch the World Cup trophy at another opening ceremony and beyond more unpalatable sportswashing the game's calendar is unrecognisable from previous years.

The winter start date is unappealing enough, the Premier League starts in the first week of August for the first time since its inception 30 years ago and June is so teeming with international fixtures there might as well be a tournament.

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Harry Maguire does not leave the England camp until June 14 and Scott McTominay could appear in as many as five matches for Scotland, the last of them also on the 14th. Manchester United's first day of pre-season training is on June 27.

Fifteen senior United players have been included in national or junior squads. James Garner would love to hit the ground running at Carrington but England Under-21s have two European Championship qualifiers and the second is on June 13. Alejandro Garnacho's holiday is on hold until Argentina's Toulon Tournament participation ends. The final is on June 12.

Alex Telles, Fred and Facundo Pellistri are on international duty until the 11th, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Dalot, Bruno Fernandes, Victor Lindelof and Anthony Elanga the 12th, Raphael Varane the 13th and Hannibal Mejbri the 14th. The summers are getting so short the day of Ralf Rangnick's final press conference marked seven weeks until us journalists fly to Thailand for United's pre-season tour.

Sympathy for the devils will be in short supply from United supporters subjected to so much drudgery over the last nine months. Erik ten Hag has