Liam Brady and Gary Pallister unveil Manchester United Aviva Stadium friendly date

Liam Brady has said Serie A “still has a long way to go” as Manchester United will face off with Sampdoria in the Aviva Stadium this summer.

Jose Mourinho’s men will be coming to Dublin on August 2 for the first time since they played in the opening fixture of the stadium in 2010.

Former Sampdoria player Liam Brady was on hand to help officially unveil the fixture and he said Italian football is “not the same as it used to be.”

“The two Milan clubs are in real crisis. It wasn’t that long ago that Mourninho won the Champions League with Inter and Milan had the great team with Gullit, Rjikard, and Van Basten,” he said,

Despite this Brady remembers the good times he spent in Genoa and said he “spent two great years there.”

He said it was “hugely exciting” for Sampdoria as they will be guaranteed to be playing in front of a full house.

“This will be a full house. There will be 50,000 people at the game and when you think of the 1.5 million people in Dublin at least 50pc of them will be United fans,” he said,

Brady said Sampdoria will be “facing a new Manchester United” who face their biggest game of the season on Wednesday for the Europa League final against Ajax.

Former United player Gary Pallister was in Dublin to announce the game for United and he said “a trophy would be fanastic” after a season of “abject” performances.

Pallister said Mourninho’s team were effected badly by “injuries, susupensions and tiredness.”

“Our performances dropped after away games in Europe and you can see it helped Chelsea win the Premier League by not having European football,” he said.

Pallister said United “try to go all over the world” and that the Dublin date with Sampdoria is a “thank you to the fans for the tremendous support.” “This is giving something back,” he said.

The former centre back said United will be “looking for another centre forward” after the injury to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and said “Griezmann was the name on every body’s lips.”

Pallister said United will also be on the lookout for “another defender and another central midfielder.”

Massimo Ienca, Sampdoria General Secretary, said it is “a great honour” Sampdoria to take play the game in Dublin.

“We recently commemorated the 25th anniversary of our European Cup Final against Barcelona at Wembley - the pinnacle of our club's long history. Now, as then, Sampdoria are a respected club flying our unique flag and colours around the world.

"It is a pleasure to think that we will soon be playing against Manchester United, England's most successful club and one of this year's UEFA Europa League finalists.

Brady was determined not to be moved on speculation on Arsene Wenger’s future but said he was “firmly in the Arsene Wenger camp.”

 “I'm sure the match will be a memorable occasion for everyone involved - and the fans especially,” he said.

Ed Woodward, Ececutive Vice Chairman for Manchester United, said the game would be “a great platform” for the club ahead of the new season.

Tickets will be on sale this Friday at 11am.