Manchester United's wage bill has been reduced for the first financial quarter. Two rounds of redundancies and fewer bonuses have driven down United’s wage bill to £73.6million despite their summer spending spree of £232.7m.
Barcelona are covering Marcus Rashford’s £325,000 weekly wages in full during his season-long loan and United are set to make more savings on their wage bill next year.
Barca have the option to buy Rashford and fellow high earner Casemiro could also be released by United next year.
Jadon Sancho, on £250,000-a-week, is also set to be let go by United when his contract expires in June.
That would give United ample headroom to make a headline signing in midfield amid interest in Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton and Carlos Baleba.
Chief executive Omar Berrada believes United’s latest financial results show “strong progress in our transformation of the club”.
In the club’s accounts, United made an operating profit of £13m in Q1 chiefly due to higher ticket prices to offset the absence of European matches.
United’s sponsorship revenues have decreased by nearly £5m to £47m.
The club put that down to “changes in our commercial partner mix”.
United have not had a training kit partner since their deal with Tezos ended last season and AON’s sponsorship of their Carrington training complex expired in 2021.
Discussions are ongoing with prospective sponsors after Marriott Bonvoy’s six-year partnership with United ended this year.
Melitta’s eight-year association with the club has also come to an end.
United’s reduction in revenue to £140.3m is owed to no European football in their schedule and they have played two fewer home games in the quarter than last year.
Club sources say they remain on-track for full-year revenues of £640m-£660m.
Berrada appeared to justify the redundancies that had slashed the club’s workforce by a third.
He said: “These robust financial results reflect the resilience of Manchester United as we make strong progress in our transformation of the club.
“The difficult decisions we have made in the past year have resulted in a sustainably lower cost base and a more streamlined, effective organisation equipped to drive the club towards improved sporting and commercial performance over the long-term.
“That has helped us to invest in our men’s and women’s teams, sitting in sixth and third places in the Premier League and Women’s Super League respectively.”