Next week, Manchester United will be kicking off their pre-season in Asia ahead of the 09/10 season where we will be aiming to retain the league title for a fourth successive year.

Rio Ferdinand has today claimed that the hard work of the pre-season pays off when the important games begin.

“The most important thing about pre-season is getting some good training done,” said Rio. “One of the main reasons we’ve been successful in the last few years is because we’ve had a good base from pre-season. It takes a bit of time to get acclimatised to the humid conditions in Asia, but it’s a good exercise to play against different teams that pose different threats.”