Manchester United’s transfer plans will take a hit of up to £500m in the coming months following their defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final.
The i Paper has been told co-owners Ineos and all senior figures at United retain full backing for head coach Ruben Amorim, despite the club slipping to the most defeats in a single season in 51 years.
The repercussions from failing to secure a route back to the Champions League will have a severely detrimental effect on the club’s ability to conduct anything like the squad overhaul that is desperately needed, however.
Ruben Amorim still has the backing of the United board (Photo: Getty)Matheus Cunha’s £62.5m deal is all but done, The i Paper understands, and could be confirmed as early as Sunday, after United’s season finale at home against Aston Villa, or early next week.
There is confidence among many at the club that Liam Delap can also be snared. He is understood to favour a move to United over another interested party, Chelsea, again with European football not a decisive factor.
Football finance experts predict United have taken a revenue hit of around £100m by missing out on Europe’s premier competition.
“Losing has cost them £100m of lost revenue,” Professor Rob Wilson, a football finance expert and programme director at the University Campus of Football Business, tells The i Paper.
“That’s mainly made up of TV cash and match day revenue that they would earn from the Champions League. Being in the group stages is worth a minimum of £60m with £15m in match day revenue and then the ability to strike more lucrative commercial and sponsorship deals on top of that.
“That is undoubtedly going to have an impact on their ability in the transfer market and takes away that PSR flexibility they would have had.
“An extra £100m in revenue allows you to spend £400m or £500m on new players when you amortise those deals over the length of their contracts. That is gone now.”
And while Amorim is safe for now, and United have wiggle room under the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), the repercussions of Wednesday’s defeat may have wider consequences.
Several senior figures were taken aback by Amorim’s claims after United’s damaging loss to Tottenham that he would leave if he did not feel wanted, without taking any compensation.
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There is no danger of that happening before the start of the new season, The i Paper has been told. The fact supporters remain firmly behind the coach has helped United take such a stance.
No one at the club – Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox are all supporters – has any desire to make any changes at the top.
And their financial situation is at a point where there will be at least some transfer activity this summer.
“They do have PSR headroom even without Champions League football so I’d expect them to be moderately aggressive in the market,” Professor Wilson said.
“But the bigger issue is they are competing with Arsenal, Manchester City and even the likes of Newcastle and potentially Nottingham Forest. So it’s down to negotiations and what we’ve seen historically when Manchester United aren’t in the Champions League is they’ve had to pay higher wages and transfer fees to encourage clubs to sell and players to join.”
The silver lining for United is that they won’t have to fund significant bonuses and the wage uplift that would have come from competing in the Champions League.
Player sales are nonetheless a must. Marcus Rashford remains an attractive proposition to Barcelona, with sporting director Deco this week revealing the club are interested in the 27-year-old, as The i Paper reported last month.
United are also confident Antony will garner plenty more interest given his fine form on loan at Real Betis this season. The club are hoping to raise at least £40m from any sale, sources said.
Jadon Sancho will almost certainly leave even if Chelsea are not all that keen to activate their option to make his loan spell at Stamford Bridge a permanent one.
One additional bonus could come from the transfer of former full-back Alvaro Fernandez between Benfica and Real Madrid. United are understood to retain a 40 per cent sell-on clause over the young Spaniard, which could earn them up to £20m.
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