Manchester United face a clearout of up to a dozen players, two of their leading scouts will depart the club in the coming weeks and interim head coach Ralf Rangnick’s assertion that they are “two or three” transfer windows away from competing with Liverpool and Manchester City is being viewed as wildly optimistic.
But their latest summer of upheaval will be ameliorated by relaxed spending rules and the fact their off-field status has not been significantly diminished during a five-year trophy drought.
Erik ten Hag is expected to be confirmed as the club’s fifth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and the club spiralled from being the champions of England to one struggling to finish fourth. As revealed by Mirror Football, United’s players have already been told that a deal with Ten Hag to take over next season has been agreed.
And among all the daunting rebuilding work required one benefit for Ten Hag is that United will again have no major concerns around spending restrictions as UEFA plan to introduce a new system to replace financial fair play that will reward the highest-earning clubs from 2023.
The new rules would see a limit imposed on spending on wages, transfers and agents' fees to 70% of clubs’ revenue from 2025. However it will be implemented gradually, meaning clubs can spend 90 per cent next year and 80 per cent in 2024. The current financial fair play regulations, described by some senior UEFA officials as not fit for purpose, have been relaxed since the start of the pandemic to protect clubs from financial difficulty.
United’s position of strength is largely thanks to their commercial power. Their revenue last year was £494million despite stadiums being closed to supporters for almost the entire 2020-21 campaign. Pre-pandemic matchday revenue was worth about £100million per season to the club.
While United are understood to have the Premier League's third-highest wage bill this season, behind City and Chelsea, it was only a moderate 65 per cent of their revenue in 2021 according to Deloitte and the expected departure of high earners such as Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani will offer additional leeway for new additions.
The club spent £29million on agents fees last year on deals including the re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo plus the additions of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane.
On the flip side, it may be significantly more difficult to attract big-name stars to Old Trafford without being in next season’s Champions League. Ragnick’s team face an uphill battle to finish fourth. They trail Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, whom they visit on Saturday, by three points with an extra game played.
