Man United have struck 'politically important' deal after being 'held to ransom'

Manchester United have taken a "crucial" step towards their plans for a new stadium by securing a 25-acre site close to Old Trafford.

That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that United's new land purchase is "politically important" for their redevelopment plans.

The Red Devils are working towards a 100,000-seater new stadium in the coming years, which is set to be built close to their current home.

Wyness has emphasised that United were being "held to ransom" by Freightliner for a piece of land behind the current Stretford End, but have now found an alternative.

The former boardroom man has stressed that the club can now move forward with "phase one" of their plans, having previously been held back by the disputes over the land.

Michael Carrick has turned the club's fortunes around on the pitch, and the cogs are now in motion for an exciting project away from the football.

Man United 'debt' still causes poses major issue

Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that there are question marks over how United's new stadium will be funded, given the debt they are currently facing.

The Manchester giants have allowed their debts to climb as high as £1.3billion, and they have faced major difficulties when trying to reduce that in recent months.

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness noted that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Co. may yet have to scale back the stadium project to some extent.

"That was a very big step, because unless you have the footprint and the land, then all that remains is an artist's impression on the architect's drawing board," he said.

"This was a key piece of land because they were being held to ransom by Freightliner over another piece of land. And so with this new piece, they've been able to be able to move ahead and operate without that site. So that's quite important politically for them to get it. 

"There's a long time to go in the planning process for a new stadium of this scale. But as I say, without that footprint, you can't move ahead. So it is a big step. At least that's phase one, that's the crucial step.

"They've got the tricky financial situation as well of how they're going to fund it. Now, that's going to be a big question for United, given the debt they've got.

"They'll be very keen to be shopping, but I think they might be having to pay a higher interest rate at the moment than they might have been expecting. So still a long way to go on this project. I expect it to be scaled back in certain areas."

INEOS need huge financial boost to fund new stadium

Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider last weekend that United's INEOS ownership are around £1bn short of where they need to be to fund the stadium project.

The football finance expert made it clear that they will continue to have both hands tie behind their back because of their debt.

Borson outlined that external investment is likely to be needed to help turn the stadium plans into a reality.

Unless that happens, then it is highly unlikely that the plans get off the ground any time soon.