Manchester United change hotel in Marbella over coronavirus fears
United discovered that Rafa Benítez's Dalian Yifang had stayed at the same hotel, the Westin La Quinta Golf Resort, last week. The club moved to new lodgings.
Manchester United decided to change their winter training camp plans at the last minute. The squad had been booked into the Westin La Quinta Golf Resort & Spa in Benahavís, Marbella, the luxury complex where they had planned to take advantage of the mid-season break, soak up the warm weather and prepare for Monday's Premier League trip to Chelsea. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took a 17-man squad out to Spain for the mini-break but they were not the only football team to stay at the hotel.
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It emerged that Chinese club Dalian Yifang, coached by Rafa Benítez, had also stayed at the resort last week and when United found out, they decided to move to a different hotel as a precaution. With the coronavirus outbreak in China, United couldn't take any risks, as The Daily Mail reports in today's edition. So Solskjaer's squad are now lodging at the five-star Kempinski Hotel Bahía Estepona, which has all the amenities they need.
Before they even flew out to Málaga, United had already taken the deicision to leave new signing Odion Ighalo at home. The club was concerned that the Nigerian striker, who joined from Shanghai Shenhua, might not be allowed back into the UK because of border restrictions relating to the coronavirus.
The Manchester United squad in Málaga
Goalkeepers: David de Gea, Sergio Romero and Nathan Bishop.
Defenders: Eric Bailly, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Diogo Dalot, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams and Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
Midfielders: Scott McTominay, Jesse Lingard, Andreas Pereira, James Garner and Fred.
Forwards: Daniel James, Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood, Tahith Chong