David de Gea is expected to leave Manchester United this summer and the club will make significant savings on their wage bill due to player departures.
De Gea is out of contract at the end of the current campaign and having turned down the club’s contract offer, there is now a big possibility that he leaves the club this summer. United did not take up their option of triggering a one-year extension to his contract as they wanted a dramatic decrease in wages.
The Spaniard signed a hefty deal in 2019 that made him not only the club's highest-paid player but also the Premier League's top earner on £375,000 per week. United understand this contract was an error on their behalf and they are now actively seeking to replace him.
De Gea’s annual salary has stood at a staggering £19.5million – he has been not only the top earning player at United but the highest in the Premier League, barring the 18 months that Cristiano Ronaldo also spent at Old Trafford before leaving last November.
Should the Spaniard leave United, he would join others leaving the squad to free up wages for Ten Hag to invest. Phil Jones did not even feature for the club last season yet earned £75,000 per week – which tallied £3.9million over the course of the year, which will now be saved.
Jones is leaving at the expiration of his contract in June alongside fellow defender Axel Tuanzebe, whose contract at United ran up a cost of £2.6million over the course of a year for United. Exiting loanees Marcel Sabitzer and Wout Weghorst were on comparable wages that over the course of their stints from January are understood to have cost £2.8million.
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The savings of De Gea’s contract exit coupled with those of Jones, Tuanzebe, Sabitzer and Weghorst tally up in the region of £29million over the course of a season – which could go a long way towards helping United bolster their squad this summer.
Yet many further exits may follow. Club captain Harry Maguire earns £9.9million gross from United a year and is understood to be available for transfer. The same is true for striker Anthony Martial, whose £13million annual salary is believed to be the fifth highest at the club.
United are also seeking exits for defensive trio Eric Bailly, Alex Telles and Brandon Williams, whose combined wages over the course of the season add up to £12.4million.
