Everton off to unnamed Middle East location, rumoured to be Dubai

Having neatly disposed of Crystal Palace 3-1 and then participated in a glittering ceremony last night celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fantastic work done by Everton in the Community (EitC), the team jets off for some warm weather training for the next few days.

While the location of the training camp hasn’t been revealed yet, it is likely to be Dubai at the Nad Al Sheba, Meydan where the Toffees trained last season as well. It is well established as the best training complex in the United Arab Emirates and is owned by the ruling family in Dubai.

The private facilities are renowned among some of the biggest teams in Europe, with Ral Madrid, Manchester United, AC Milan and more having trained there along with German and Scandinavian teams.

Per Sport360, Sam Allardyce has taken many of his his previous clubs to train at Dubai Sports City. The manager is quite familiar with the city, with that being the location he waited for Everton’s call for him to take over what looked like a rapidly-sinking ship at the time.

Despite some fans’ complaints on why the team gets to take a ‘vacation’ when there are still so many issues to be resolved, this is a good thing. It’ll be great for the players to get away from the dreary winter on Merseyside, spend some time bonding with each other and hopefully just relaxing to gear up for what could be an awkward run-in to end the season.

The warm weather camp was a bit of a luxury during David Moyes’ era, but became a fixture when Roberto Martinez took over. Trips to Tenerife and Qatar were followed by this location in Dubai. Last season the players stayed at the ultra-luxurious Meydan Hotel, and took in some high profile events including the Dubai World Cup Carnival at the adjoining racecourse.

Photo by In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images

2015 - Qatar

2016 - Dubai

2017 - Dubai

The Liverpool Echo have an excellent recalling here of the last five warm weather trips the Blues took, where they went, along with results before and following the break. There’s also some great stories in there from previous regimes, including some from the wild parties during the ‘80s and ‘90s.