Arsenal plan Asian tour in July

Arsenal are in the latter stages of negotiations to take the squad to Seoul, Beijing and Hong Kong, where they hope to play glamour friendlies and enjoy promotional events.

Arsene Wenger stands to be asked to take his players to the Far East towards the end of July, return to London for a short period and then travel to the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

Arsenal have done a good deal of positive work to build their fan base in Asia and Africa, two of the great untapped markets, and the success of last summer's tour has whetted the appetite at boardroom level.

According to the Premier League's research, there are 342 million Premier League fans in Africa and Arsenal are particularly popular in Nigeria because of their association with the country's striker Kanu, who played for them between 1999 and 2004.

Asia is also a hotbed of support for the English game and Arsenal believe that going on a high-profile tour in the region can only help to fire their popularity which, in turn, can be exploited in hard financial terms.

ORIGINAL SOURCE
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