Romelu Lukaku is confident Manchester United's winter training break in Dubai will help Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad become a "tighter unit".
The Premier League side arrived in the UAE on Sunday morning for some days away from the cold of England, with their next match not until January 13 when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur.
United, who have a 100 per cent record since Solskjaer replaced fired Jose Mourinho as manager until the end of the season, are reported to be staying at the One&Only Royal Mirage Arabian Court, close to Palm Jumeirah during their stay in Dubai.
Lukaku, who scored United's second goal in their 2-0 win over Reading in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, said of the trip: "It is going to be good for us as a team because we are performing well.
"But going away is going to help us become an even tighter group because we do a lot of stuff off the pitch together and we are going to be together for a week so hopefully it will make us a tighter unit."
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
