Louis van Gaal has said Manchester United’s visit to China in July is not ideal preparation for the new season and revealed he went out of his way to ensure it was kept as short as possible due to the air quality and humidity in Shanghai and Beijing.

“I was involved in every step of the planning, the club wanted to go for a fortnight but I got it down to eight days, which is more like six days,” he said. “I have played as a player in a tournament in Shanghai and we could not train. It is only because of the commercial reasons that we are going. I know a club like Manchester United must do that, but it is not a very good preparation, because we will have a lot of players involved in the European Championships who will be tired.”

United are taking part in the International Champions Cup in China, which involves a game against Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on 22 July followed by a showdown with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in Beijing on the 25th.

“I shall try to do some training but the humidity is so high that when I was there we could only do it at seven in the morning or nine in the evening,” Van Gaal said. “Having said that, when I was with Sparta Rotterdam we won the tournament. Then we went home and won the next six league matches. The training was no use, but it seemed to work from a team-building point of view.”