MANCHESTER UNITED may need to hold an end of season fire sale to give new boss Ruben Amorim January transfer wriggle room.
The Portuguese will step into the Old Trafford firing line on Monday after finally severing his links with Sporting Lisbon at the weekend.
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Amorim will be inheriting a squad that appears way short of what is required for United to challenge at the top of the Prem.
The new manager is expected to play his preferred back three system with his wing-backs required to work up and down the pitch.
But while the United leadership will be keen to give the new manager the tools he needs to make an early impact – the club’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules position is likely to require departures before the end of the financial year on June 30.
This is due to be the last year of the Prem’s current PSR regulations, with clubs moving to a Uefa-style “squad cost ratio” system for next term.
But the breach penalties handed out to Everton and Nottingham Forest last season mean all clubs including United will know they risk points deductions for next term if they exceed the “permitted loss” limit of £105m over three seasons to the end of this campaign.
United’s summer transfers under now-axed Erik ten Hag saw the arrivals of Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Manuel Ugarte and Joshua Zirkzee for a combined £172m.
For PSR calculations, those arrivals are “amortised” over their contract lengths, meaning a seasonal cost of £37.1m.
That outlay came with a huge influx of transfer income, as United sold players including Scott McTominay, Mason Greenwood and Aaron Wan-Bissaka for a total of £86m, more than making up for the money spent.
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Three Sporting stars Amorim could swoop for after joining Man Utd
RUBEN AMORIM has ruled out poaching any of his Sporting Lisbon players in the January transfer window.
But the Portuguese side’s chiefs expect Amorim will come calling in the summer – with his cheque book wide open.
Here’s are three Sporting starts United could swoop for… but they won’t come cheap:
VIKTOR GYOKERES
Age: 26
Position: Striker
Cost: £84million
Swede has shone since joining Sporting last summer from Coventry — catching the eye of all Europe’s top clubs.
Hit 43 goals in 50 games last season and boasts 18 strikes already this term.
GONCALO INACIO
Age: 23
Position: Defender
Cost: £50million
Ball-playing centre-back was handed his debut by Amorim and has since become a key figure in Sporting’s recent title successes.
Can also slot in at left-back if required and has 12 caps for Portugal.
MORTEN HJULMAND
Age: 25
Position: Midfield
Cost: £40million
Dane is one of the top holding midfielders in Portugal — and made skipper by Amorim.
He could be the man to replace Casemiro.
But United’s amortisation bill for this season does not just include the summer 2024 spending.
The club has to include the money spent over the last SIX years, with accumulated costs of £44m for last term, just under £45m for the previous campaign, Jadon Sancho’s 2021 arrival costing them £17m even though he will spend the season at Chelsea.
United’s amortisation spending even includes £42m for the arrivals of Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes in the 2019-20 season – when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in charge.
That adds up to £168m in PSR transfer costs for this season.
United’s wage bill last term was £364m, with the club announcing losses of £69m, added to the losses of £11m in 2023 and £87m the previous years.
That does not mean losses of that size in their PSR accounts, as the £105m limit is reached with significant discounts for spending on infrastructure, the youth and women’s teams and community projects, with United also benefitting last term from the final Covid adjustment.
But new club chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already noted that United were close to the PSR limit last season.
And with the club in the Europa League rather than the Champions League this season, it will mean a reduction of up to £50m in TV revenues – although it will also see wage bonuses reduced.
The rules do not prevent clubs from spending in January – but they do have to balance their books by the end of the financial year.
Selling the likes of Antony or Casemiro is not as easy a get-out as it might appear either.
They would have to receive a fee of £30m for Casemiro to get to zero in accounting terms, with Antony’s five-year deal meaning £49.2m would be taken off any agreed fee received.
Alternatively the Red Devils could sell an academy graduate like Marcus Rashford as his transfer fee would count as pure profit, since he did not cost United a penny.
But if Amorim is going to be allowed to bring players in – there are no limits in the Prem but clubs can only change a maximum of three players in their Uefa squads for the knock-out stage – it appears likely that exits will have to come before the end of June.
The end of last term saw the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton engage in a series of deals that saw them get under the PSR limits.
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United might have previously been above those sort of financial requirements.
But they may not be this term – especially if Amorim demands some significant action in the winter window.
