Blackburn Rovers will head to Spain during the month-long World Cup break where they plan to play two behind-closed-doors friendlies.
The Championship season paused for a month following Rovers’ game at Burnley on November 13, resuming against Preston North End on December 10.
Manager Jon Dahl Tomasson stressed the importance of the break for Rovers, viewing it as almost a second pre-season, five days of which will be spent in Spain.
Rovers director of football Gregg Broughton said: “We’ll do some training here and then I think the plan is to go to Spain for a short training camp in Marbella towards the end of November. That will include one, possibly two, games.”
The World Cup has meant an intense fixture list in the early months of the season, with no October international break.
Tomasson was appointed as Rovers boss on June 14, a week ahead of the players returning for pre-season training.
Broughton added: “For us, it suits us perfectly. When you have a hands-on coach like Jon who wants to work with and develop the team you need to give him time on the grass.
“It’s pretty much play-recover-play-recover, with so many games packed in.
“To have that time as a group and to have an opportunity to reset is vital to us.
“Other clubs might not be so keen on it – but for us to have a chance to reset I think will suit us perfectly.”
Granada interest in Rovers’ Ayala
Aitor Karanka was keen on a reunion with the Spaniard in the summer, with sources in Spain indicating that interest remained strong.
Seville born and Spain u21 International Ayala and Karanka were together at Middlesbrough, with Ayala captain of the side promoted to the Premier League in 2016.
Granada confirmed Karanka would be kept on as manager in the wake of relegation from La Liga, with links to a possible move for Ayala materialising in the January transfer window.
