Manchester United have beaten a European record that Real Madrid previously held, though it highlights the mismanagement at the club in recent times.
With Sir Jim Ratcliffe's 25 per cent shareholding now accepted by the Premier League and FA, his first task of business seems in addressing the lack of success on the pitch despite the over-inflated transfer fees paid on incoming players.
Indeed, the cost of their squad exceeded £1bn in 2023, as highlighted in a new UEFA report.
A UEFA-commissioned European Club Finance and Investment report revealed that, last year, the Manchester United squad was "the most expensive ever assembled" in football. In total, the report highlighted Manchester United had spent £1.21bn in combined transfer fees on their squad at the end of the 2023 financial year.
That figure beats the previous record of £1.13bn, set by Real Madrid in 2020. That squad, though, had just won the La Liga title and were in the middle of winning five Champions League trophies in less than a decade.
Despite such significant spending, meanwhile, Manchester United were only able to win the Carabao Cup under Erik ten Hag. They were knocked out of the Europa League in the quarter-finals, while Manchester City beat them in the FA Cup final.
And though they managed to finish third in the Premier League, it means the 75 points they amassed came at a cost of £16.13m per point, a staggering figure when considering that they spent £82m on Antony, £80m on Harry Maguire, £73m on Jadon Sancho and £70m on Casemiro.
That total doesn't include any of the signings that joined the club in the summer of 2023, though the Chelsea squad was only calculated up until June 2022. While the report says that the Blues squad also cost more than £1bn, none of the £850m transfer fees spent from the summer of 2022 until August 2023 counted in the final figures.
Manchester City and Real Madrid also featured in the £1bn-plus squad cost, with the report highlighting their spending, too.
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