Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori watch friendly with Saudi Arabian side Al-Shabab Football Club

And there were a couple of interested onlookers with Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and shareholder Juan Sartori watching on.

The pair watched the friendly on Friday afternoon at the Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence.

Ahead of the game Sunderland had spent the week training in warm-weather before Mowbray gave his squad valuable minutes against Al-Shabab, who currently sit first in the SPL.

Next up for Sunderland is the visit of Millwall when league action returns next Saturday.

Mowbray said about the Dubai trip: "For me it's about the bonding, I think it's really important that the lads who joined us six or seven weeks ago spend 24 hours a day with us rather than a few and then go off doing their own thing.

"It's important to develop relationships and do things together, and of course we'll be training together a lot.

"We then come back and have a full week to prepare for the Millwall game. I think it'll benefit us and the ally that with us getting some pretty key footballers back, hopefully we can reboot our season and go on and win some more football matches."

Sunderland host Millwall at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, December 3 when the Championship returns.

The Championship has taken a three-week break during the group stages of the Qatar World Cup, while the Premier League returns on Boxing Day.

Sunderland went into the break on the back of a much-needed victory over Birmingham City.