Revealed: Man United smash record as £3.5bn development now confirmed
Man United are the biggest contributor to a Premier League wage bill totalling £3.47billion according to the latest data, Football Insider analysis shows.
Top-flight clubs paid £142.2million more to their playing staff in 2021-22 compared to the previous season, an increase of four per cent.
United’s wage bill rose by £61.6m to £384.2m, a sum which surpassed the previous benchmark set by Man City in 2020-21 as the highest ever in the Premier League.
The statistics, compiled exclusively for this site by chartered accountant and football finance analyst Viva Mukherjee, show that turnover across the division soared by £542.1m to £5.11bn.
That is an increase of 12 per cent based on the previous year’s figures.
It means revenue is growing faster than wages in the Premier League, which is now both outearning and outspending Europe’s other major leagues by an order of magnitude.
Of the top flight’s 20 clubs, 12 decreased their wages-to-turnover ratio, showing that there is broadly better wage control across the competition.
Six clubs exceeded a wages-to-turnover ratio of 80 per cent, while three – Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Fulham, all of whom were promoted from the Championship in 2021-22 – exceeded the 100 per cent mark.
United’s net loss of £115.5m was the second highest in the division, surpassed only by Chelsea’s £121.3m deficit.
The club’s top brass attributed much of the shortfall to the fall in the value of the pound against the dollar as well as hangover effects from the pandemic, such as the absence of a lucrative overseas pre-season tour.
The explosion in the Red Devils’ salary costs meanwhile was due to the arrivals of Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho.
New contract will now reportedly be capped at £200,000 per week in an effort to curb wage bill inflation.
In other news, Man United now in pole position to sign Victor Osimhen after £133m bid reveal.