Man United to land points deduction? Stefan Borson drops strong verdict
Manchester United are facing some “big” challenges from a profit and sustainability (PSR) perspective after so far failing to sell the likes of Casemiro and Antony.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the Premier League giants are likely to be close to the spending limit again this season.
In a letter to fan groups on 23 January, Man United warned them the club are at risk of breaching the spending rules.
Their latest accounts for 2023-24 revealed they generated a club-record revenue of £661.8million despite recording a net loss of £113.2million, with top-flight sides only permitted to make £105million of losses over a rolling three-year period.
United avoided a spending breach for last season after they were allowed to add back £40million in Covid losses and more than £30million for their strategic review.
The Athletic reported on 25 January Real Betis will cover 84 per cent of Antony’s wages after he joined the Spanish club on loan this month, but there is no loan fee included or option to turn it into a permanent deal.
Man United are close to PSR limit after financial issues
Borson revealed United could make their PSR position worse if they record a significant loss on the Brazil international following his £86million move from Ajax in September 2022.
“United are talking a lot about PSR,” Borson told Football Insider.
“They are obviously very close. I don’t think that’s made up. They would have probably already failed but for some quite unusual allowances.
“The Covid allowance that they had for 2021-22 of about £40million, and then the allowance that they were permitted for the share sale costs and the strategic review costs of probably £30-35million.
“But for those allowances by the Premier League, they probably would have failed already for 2023-24. They are obviously close.
“It’s another club that are not performing financially and they have got some big challenges from a PSR perspective, particularly when you have got some players like Casemiro or an Antony, who have still got pretty significant book value and big wages.
“What that means is, if you do crystallise the sale of those players, so if you try and sell Antony in this window and you end up getting let’s say about £50million, that crystallises a loss for PSR.
“You end up making your PSR position worse by selling a player that you are desperate to get rid of and is probably paid £10million a year. They are in a bit of a bind when it comes to a player like Antony from a PSR perspective.
“The best that they can do is get somebody to pay some of his wages, as they are doing with Betis and see if he can rejuvenate his performance such that somebody buys him in the summer for probably £40million before they have to start making a loss on that.”
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