OXFORD United will go abroad in pre-season for the first time since 2019.

The U’s jet off to Spain next month for an eight-day training camp as they begin preparations for the 2022/23 campaign.

United’s training ground is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment, including new pitches and upgrades to the main building.

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And Karl Robinson explained this is one reason why his squad will report straight to their training camp after the summer break.

“We’re going to Spain, the players fly out on June 23,” the U’s head coach said.

“We’re going straight there (at the start of pre-season). With the restructuring of this building we’ve got to give it a little bit more time to get it all done, so we’ve got a lot of work to do.

“The work around this building in the last seven days has been immense and there’s so much more to do.

“We just felt it was easier for the players to report early so we can embed our culture, our values and what we expect of them.”

The U’s are not expected to play any friendlies while they are in Spain.

Coronavirus restrictions have stopped United travelling abroad for pre-season since they went to Portugal in 2019.

They booked a training camp in Spain last summer, but it fell through amid uncertainty over international travel.

Instead, the U’s went to Dorset and trained in Wimborne, near Bournemouth.

In 2020, they travelled to Wales for a training camp during the short break between the play-off final and the start of the following season.

There will be just over five weeks between United flying out to Spain and their first game of the new League One campaign.

The season begins on the final weekend of July, seven days earlier than normal, due to the World Cup taking place in winter for the first time.