‘Man United to sacrifice Kobbie Mainoo after major transfers collapse’
Man United are looking likely to be forced into selling Kobbi Mainoo to fund their squad rebuild after several major transfers fell through.
The Red Devils have quickly put behind any memories of their Europa League final defeat to Tottenham by making a flying start to the summer transfer window.
Matheus Cunha will join United from Wolves in a deal worth £62.5million [Sky Sports], whilst Ruben Amorim’s side are now the front-runners for Bryan Mbeumo.
But whilst the club’s hierarchy are clearly doing their best to make the loss to Spurs a thing of the past, the missed revenue will be a looming presence for the rest of the summer.
Qualification for the Champions League would have been worth in the region of £100m. The club are already strapped for cash, and Jim Ratcliffe’s grandiose plans for a “new” Old Trafford are going nowhere.
As such, the 20-time champions of England will have to find a way of funding their squad overhaul, and Mainoo is quickly becoming the obvious fall-guy.
Man United see Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho sales fall through
United thought they had a guaranteed £25m coming in this window, thanks to Chelsea’s obligation to sign Jadon Sancho.
But instead, the Blues triggered a £5m clause [The Athletic] that allowed them to back out of signing the England international.
Sancho and United’s relationship is strained, to put it kindly, and there is likely no place for the winger in Amorim’s side, both from an emotional and tactical standpoint.
The winger is on a reported £300,000-a-week [BBC Sport] and convincing another side to take on his contract and pay a similar fee to what Chelsea were initially meant to seems like an impossible task.
Bruno Fernandes looked like he may join Al-Hilal this summer, netting United a massive transfer fee, even if it came at the expense of losing their best player.
But the Portugal international has rejected the Saudi Pro League side – great news for fans of the club, terrible news for the Red Devils’ accounting department.
Kobbie Mainoo sale gives major PSR boost for Man United
Mainoo then becomes the next logical option for United to sell. The midfielder came through the academy, meaning that any fee they receive will appear as pure profit on the club’s balance sheet.
This provides the Red Devils with breathing room to avoid a sanction from the Premier League for potentially failing their profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
To add to that, Mainoo is highly regarded and will likely have plenty of interested clubs this summer, bumping up the fee United could stand to receive for him.
United, and Amorim especially, would like to sell the Argentine wonderkid Alejandro Garnacho, but clubs have their concerns.
Chelsea for instance looked at Garnacho in January, but his attitude gave them pause, and after United’s disastrous post-season tour of Asia, those concerns are likely to arise again.
Mainoo has also not featured regularly under Amorim and the Portuguese coach will likely be much more concerned about keeping Fernandes than the 20-year-old.
It’s a shame that so much of football is now dictated by balance sheets, rather than performances on the pitch. But ultimately, United have boxes to tick and PSR checks to pass and selling one of the best players to come through their academy in recent years increasingly seems the most logical way to achieve that objective.