Manchester United fears missing out on teen talent after Brexit

“If you have 16-year-olds going to play for them and if we have to wait until 18 there are clearly practical issues there. I’m sure that will be discussed. It’s certainly something the Premier League are aware of.”

United signed a 16-year-old Paul Pogba from French club Le Havre in 2009. The midfielder eventually left but rejoined the 20-time English champions last August for a world record transfer fee of €105 million, becoming one of the club’s highest-paid players.

Pogba returned at a time when currency fluctuations in the aftermath of the June 2016 Brexit referendum posed additional challenges for United, with players asking to be paid in euros and United agreeing in un-named cases. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Mkhitaryan, who share the same agent as Pogba, also joined in the 2016 summer transfer window.

“It was a bit difficult last year when you’re trying to make signings in the summer and you have players questioning the value of being paid in sterling,” Baty said. “A lot of European players want to be paid or want to have their value to be underpinned in euros. That’s understandable to a degree, but we are not a euro company. We obviously earn most of our income in sterling.

“Last year was a bit difficult ... but you aren’t going to lose a signing over that. It just makes the finances a bit more complicated.”

KPMG ranks United as the world’s most valuable club at €3.1 billion, followed by Real Madrid (€3 billion) and Barcelona (€2.8 billion), according to a list published on Wednesday.

United this month finished sixth in the Premier League, which it last won in 2013 when Alex Ferguson retired.

“We don’t have to be winning every year,” Baty said. “But we as a club have to be challenging to win every year.”

United did complete the season with two major trophies, collecting the League Cup and winning the Europa League to secure a return to the Champions League.