(Credit: Imago)

James Murray

Tue 17 March 2026 12:00, UK

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Manchester United are facing a “problem” with their new stadium plans as interest rates are unlikely to fall materially due to the conflict in the Middle East.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider it’s going to be difficult for Man United to justify raising the levels of debt required for their stadium project.

The Manchester giants announced plans to build a 100,000-seater stadium as part of the government’s regeneration of the Old Trafford area on 11 March 2025, but little progress appears to have been made over the past year.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe insisted at the time he wants the new stadium to be the “world’s greatest” and potentially be completed within five years.

However, building such a facility will come at a significant cost, with Man United expecting to pay around £2billion.

Why Man United are facing debt issue in new stadium plans

A major complication is how the 20-time English champions are planning to finance the development.

Man United published their second-quarter results up until 31 December 2025 last month, showing the overall debt at Old Trafford has now increased to £1.29bn.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson discussed the issues the club are facing with their new stadium plans.

“There are two key problems,” said Borson.

“First of all, there’s no sign that either the local government or the central government are going to support materially the building of a new stadium, so that’s number one.

“Number two is that interest rates continue to be high and the global situation in terms of war. Therefore, the knock-on impact for inflation is likely to mean that interest rates are not going to fall as quickly as maybe anticipated. 

“If you have that problem, then it’s going to become very hard for Manchester United to justify raising the levels of debt that would be required to rebuild Old Trafford.”

How Man United made ‘surprising’ new stadium announcement

Borson insisted Man United went too early in announcing their new stadium plans following the lack of progress.

“The only surprising thing about the whole new Old Trafford scheme is that they went so public on it a year ago,” said Borson.

“It looked premature then, and it certainly looks premature now, so I think you just have to wait and see how it pans out. I don’t think any of it is a surprise that nothing’s really happened so far.

“I’m sure they’re doing lots in the background in terms of lots of conversations and lots of planning, and lots of conversations with funders, but I think it’s a very difficult situation.”