ENGLISH football giants Manchester United are headed to Perth next year for a double-header at Optus Stadium.
The Red Devils have reportedly agreed to play two games, taking on Perth Glory on Saturday, July 13, and Leeds on Wednesday, July 17.
The games would follow West Coast’s second grand final rematch against Collingwood on Friday, July 12.
United is believed to have given an assurance it will be fielding a near full-strength team, with the EPL season starting a month later.
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READ NOWThe State Government will underwrite the venture.
It follows a successful four-day visit by Chelsea that ended in their 1-0 win over Glory in front of a crowd of 55,522 in driving rain in July this year.
The Government was believed to have invested about $5 million for this year’s Chelsea-Glory game with the EPL giants receiving a $3.5 million match payment and Glory about $500,000.
United has the world’s biggest following, with Deloitte ranking it in first place with 75 million fans. United believes its global reach is 659 million adults as it also has huge supporter bases in Africa and Asia.
United is ranked by Forbes as the second-most valuable sports franchise in the world at $5.58 billion.
United’s presence would be the highlight of a huge year of sport in Perth.
The State Government, through Tourism WA, has won the rights to host the second game of the NRL’s State of Origin series between New South Wales Blues and Queensland on Sunday, June 23 and a Bledisloe Cup rugby Test between the Wallabies amnd All Blacks on Saturday, August 10.
According to Tourism WA figures if 20,000 visitors travelled to Perth to watch the 2019 game it would be worth $15 million to the WA economy.
Leeds will also play the Western Sydney Wanderers at the new Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta on July 21.
It is understood the Leeds fixtures may be dependent on the team winning promotion to the Premier League.
United have played in Perth twice before, in 1967, when the squad included superstars Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best. They won 7-0.
They returned in 1975 and won 2-1 through goals from Steve Coppell and Sammy McIlroy.