Man United to 'slash wage bill' before triggering signing spree
Manchester United cannot be tempted by the prospect of a major signing spree in the upcoming transfer windows.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that they must instead continue working to reduce their wage bill.
This comes following the news that the Red Devils spent £302million on player wages across the 2025-26 campaign, a decrease of 3.6 per cent from the previous season.
However, Wyness believes that further cuts are simply unavoidable if the club are to continue to eat into their debt of over £1billion.
The Scottish businessman also acknowledged that the wage cuts must be balanced by being competitive on the pitch, but United have arguably got that balance wrong at the moment.
Michael Carrick's side have won just one of their opening five Premier Legaue games, a run of form that has piled early pressure on the boss.
Why Man United cannot afford to 'panic' with squad
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 if United "panic" and sanction a spree of new signings, then it will undo all their progress towards reducing their debt.
The Manchester giants are hoping to build a new stadium in the coming years, and Wyness outlined that those fans could be badly affected if they loosen their spending again.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, he explained why the disciplined approach is the correct one, even if things get difficult on the pitch.
"Well look, they deserve praise. It's the right direction. They managed to put a clamp on things, they put a standstill and then start to reduce it in the right direction," Wyness said.
"They've still got to maintain a competitive team as well as having cost discipline and so far this season that has not been the case.
"The jury's still out on whether they're going to break down on that cost discipline and then suddenly have a panic and start to spend again or whether they're going to carry on and try and balance the two.
"If I was sitting there right now, I'd be carrying on with the discipline because it's too early to decide on the football side just yet and I wouldn't be panicking yet.
"If they panic and break away from this it'll have longer-term consequences particularly with things like the stadium around the corner."
Man United sponsors to add 'serious clauses' amid fan trouble
Wyness previously told Football Insider earlier this week that United's sponsors are likely to add "serious clauses" into their deals amid a planned boycott from the fans.
Suppporters are working to arrange a boycott against all official club sponsors, plus any companies owned INEOS or the Glazer family.
Wyness believes that while the fans' move will have a limited effect in the short-term, it could seriously damage the club when it comes to the time for sponsors to renew their deals.
He has no doubt that sponsors will start dictating their deals more, with more tiered clauses to be put in place for United to access their full investment.