The glamour of the Premier League will be splashed all over Dubai in the coming days with no less than FOUR football clubs expected in the UAE for some warm weather training.

Leading the way will be defending champions Manchester United who are set to use the facilities at Dubai Sports City after turning down the chance of returning to Qatar’s world-renowned Aspire facility. The club, who are enduring their worst season in more than two decades, will arrive on Thursday morning on a flight from London having played at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The likes of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Juan Mata will all be part of the group, as well as Nemanja Vidic who this week announced he would leave the club this summer. However, Rio Ferdinand is not expected to travel due to what the British sports media report will be an announcement of his retirement.

Joining David Moyes’ side in the region will be fellow top-flight teams Stoke City, West Ham and United’s next opponents on Saturday January 22, Crystal Palace. The reason for the England exodus is that all four clubs have already been eliminated from the FA Cup, the fifth round of which takes place this weekend.

Last year, Queens Park Rangers visited Dubai in late February in a bid to reverse the fortunes of a stuttering league campaign, but returned home to sensational headlines suggesting the training trip had descended into a ‘stag party’ at the Royal Meridien Hotel.

Those claims, which were attributed to an ‘unnamed player’, were dismissed by manager Harry Redknapp as “a mischievous no-story, an absolute load of nonsense.”