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Manchester United's players will have one last chance to stake their claim for a place and impress Louis van Gaal before the new season starts.

United completed their four-game pre-season tour of the US in Chicago against Paris St Germain in the early hours of Thursday, before flying directly back to Manchester.

Van Gaal has abandoned the traditional pre-season friendly at Old Trafford, to ensure his players are fully rested and ready to for the new campaign, which begins at home against Tottenham on August 8.

But the United boss has organised a behind-closed-doors, 11-a-side game for his players next week, to make sure the are match-sharp and not off the pace before they face Spurs a week on Saturday.

Van Gaal believes his United players have enjoyed the best possible build-up to the new campaign following their two-and-a-half week pre-season tour of the US, the fine details of which were laid down by the Dutchman.

MORE: Van Gaal has had everything his own way - there can be no excuses

With United essentially being based at two training camps during the tour, Van Gaal ensured there was no repeat of last summer’s trek all over the US, which left his players jaded before the season got under way.

Van Gaal demanded United be based on the west coast of the US, to ensure a more favourable climate, where his squad undertook daily double training sessions, except on match-days.

United finished their tour of the States against PSG, van Gaal and his players flying in and out of Chicago in the space of 24 hours, with the squad due back in Manchester today.

Van Gaal is convinced the changes he made to United’s tour schedule will give his players the best possible chance of avoiding last season’s sluggish start, which saw them pick up just 13 points from their opening 10 games.

“We have already changed a lot of things in relation to this tour,” said van Gaal.

(Image: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)

“The last tour, we were on the other coast with more heat and humidity, and that was a negative. It has also been hot here, but people say that’s not normal.

“We only had two base camps. Last year we had to fly and fly and fly, with different schedules and time-zones each time. We have had better training camps this year.

“We had fantastic facilities in Seattle, they were superb, and also at the Avaya Stadium and Stanford University, where we did two training sessions.

“Overall, we have had a better training camp, but we also won every game last year, so that doesn’t mean anything.

“We lost our first game against Swansea, so despite the results against Club America, San Jose and Barcelona, all that matters is the game against Tottenham Hotspur on the first day of the new season.”

Van Gaal is braced for another battle with the United hierarchy over next summer’s tour, with key sponsors such as Chevrolet understood to favour a return to China, after successive years in the US.

But van Gaal is likely to be opposed to the idea of touring China and the Far East next year, given his issues with climate and humidity, as well as the amount of travelling undertaken by him, his players and staff.

How Van Gaal's two teams could line up

First XI

De Gea; Darmian, Jones, Blind, Shaw; Schneiderlin, Carrick; Mata, Depay, Young; Rooney

Second XI

Romero; Smalling, Blackett, McNair, Rojo; Schweinsteiger, Fellaini; Valencia, Herrera, Januzaj; Wilson

Angel Di Maria and Jonny Evans are expected to have left Old Trafford