Kieran Maguire issues ‘big’ £356m Man United reveal ‘on the back of Ronaldo’
Man United are in line to shell out £356million in wages for the season – but there are no guarantees the big-spending approach will pay off.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Red Devils’ recently released UK accounts.
The figures published last Friday (14 January) show that United spent an eye-watering £312m on salaries for the 2020-21 campaign.
But those numbers do not include the wages of Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho, who all signed in summer last year.
The Athletic reported on Friday (21 January) that Ronaldo’s wage will fall by 25 per cent if they fail to qualify for the Champions League this term.
Maguire argues that United have kept pace with their top-four rivals financially but have failed to invest their money wisely.
“City are at £355m, Chelsea £333m, Spurs £205m, and Liverpool and Arsenal are yet to release their results,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“So United are certainly competitive in terms of annual wage spend.
“Remember, City’s wage totals included significant bonuses for winning things, whereas United’s didn’t.
“On the back of Ronaldo, Sancho and Varne signing, the jump in the wage bill was substantial.
“If we look at United’s latest Q1 results, the wage bill went to £89m. So if you multiply that by four, that could be a very big jump.
“So United do spend, they just don’t spend it well.”
United’s ultra-late 1-0 win over West Ham yesterday (22 January) lifted them into 4th place in the league.
Their next league game is against Burnely after the winter break on 8 February.
In other news, pundit slams Paul Pogba after Man United talks with Bruno Fernandes collapse.