Ratcliffe faces overhaul of the game’s most expensive squad
SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENT
Manchester United’s squad was football’s most expensive of all time by the end of last season, according to new data illustrating the task facing Sir Jim Ratcliffe at Old Trafford.
Uefa records show £1.21billion was spent on transfer fees for players still at the club in May, eclipsing the £1.14billion recorded in 2020 by Real Madrid.
The eye-watering figures lay bare recent underachievement by United, which Ratcliffe must tackle after being granted final approval from authorities yesterday to complete his 25 per cent purchase.
The Football Association provided final ratification to ensure Ratcliffe could tie up the deal, with the deadline of his tender offer due to expire tomorrow.
Improving player-recruitment strategy will be a major priority, hence why United are readying an approach for Newcastle’s Dan Ashworth as director of sport.
United’s squad at the end of 2022-23 included £85 million Antony, £80million Harry Maguire, £73million Jadon Sancho and the £60million Brazil midfielder Casemiro. Summer recruits such as Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund are not counted in Uefa’s figures.
The report shows England’s top tier now towers over European rivals on every financial metric. Alongside United, the squads of three other clubs – Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid – cost more than €1billion (£850million) in transfer fees in their most recently disclosed financial year-end figures. Chelsea’s most recent figures go up to June 30, 2022, and therefore do not include their heavy spending in the summer of that year or the January 2023 window.
“The current Manchester teams are two of the three most expensive squads of all time,” the Uefa report said. “Manchester United FC’S
squad at the end of the club’s 2023 financial year [before the summer 2023 transfer window] is officially the most expensive ever assembled, with a combined transfer cost of €1,422million [£1,214million].”
Details in Uefa’s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape also explore the growing trend of multi-club ownership, a model which United will join as of next week.
By the summer, a total of 105 top-division European clubs (13 per cent of the total number) had a cross-investment relationship with one or more other clubs, the report shows. United will become one of 15 English top-flight clubs recognised as being part of a multi-club investment group.
Ineos holds majority stakes in French side Nice and Swiss club Lausanne. There were 31 purchases of majority stakes and seven purchases of minority stakes in 2023 by groups holding a stake in at least one other European club, according to the report.
Last week the Premier League won a vote to tighten its “associated-party” financial rules to ensure fair-market value on sponsors and transfers.
Reflecting on the report, Andrea Traverso, Uefa’s director of financial sustainability and research, said: “More than 300 clubs are part of multi-club investment groups, leading to an increased risk of seeing two clubs with the same owner or investor facing each other in the same competition, creating potential integrity risks at the European level.
“The current context demands strict enforcement of cost control regulations and more harmonisation of financial rules between leagues. This is paramount to limit overspending, ‘creative finance’, and rules circumvention. As long as differences on key regulatory matters continue between leagues, inflationary tensions will persist, contributing to imbalances and instability.”
Elsewhere, the report found spending on player wages dropped by 1.1 per cent among the clubs with the 20 largest player-wage bills. United spent €88million (£75million) less on player wages in 2023 than the year before. Barcelona and City had large increases in wages – €158 million and €68 million (£134.8million and £58million) respectively.