The mistake meant the plane that was due to take the players and staff to Shanghai was not given permission to enter Chinese airspace and the players were hastily told not to travel to the airport on Saturday. City will now train in Manchester before catching a flight on Sunday evening, but it means they will arrive in Shanghai just 48 hours before they play their opening game against West Ham who are already in China.
Manchester City club said in a statement: “Due to unforeseen administrative issue beyond the club’s control, which is being resolved, regrettably, we will embark on our pre-season tour a little later than intended. We will now travel tomorrow (Sunday) and look forward to taking part in the Premier League Asia Trophy as planned.”
A Thomas Cook Sport spokesman said: “Due to an administrative error with third parties Manchester City’s flight with Aeronexus has had to be delayed a day. We are working hard to resolve this issue and the team are due to depart tomorrow.”
