Fitness issues last season saw Manchester United fork out £26.72m on wage payments to unavailable players.
The figure comes from The Mirror’s report on spiralling injury problems among Premier League clubs.
United’s incredible financial outlay on injured players is the highest in the division.
It goes to highlight both the fitness issues of several players at the club as well as the fortune spent on lucrative contracts for players who have at times been unreliable.
Paul Pogba, who was unavailable for large portions of the 2021/2022 season, took home around £290k per week even while in Dubai, heavily contributing to the £26.72m figure.
Perhaps the biggest outlay was on £250k-a-week Edinson Cavani, who seemingly spent most of his last season at Old Trafford getting himself fit for international duty with Uruguay, before reporting injured again upon his returns.
Both of those players have left the club on free transfers to the treatment rooms of Juventus and Valencia respectively.
Marcus Rashford also began the season injured following his surgery after a Euros campaign that was, for the player, largely futile.
His reported £200k-per-week will have also put a dent in United’s finances despite the player being unavailable until late October.
He does appear to have recaptured some of the form that saw his importance to the team skyrocket under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, having just won the Premier League Player of the Month award for September.
Raphael Varane had a torrid time with fitness in his first season as a Red, although Erik ten Hag’s patience in easing the Frenchman back into the side looks to be paying off for him as well.
With the Qatar World Cup on the horizon, Ten Hag will need to navigate a hectic schedule either side of the tournament.
Nine games await in October alone, and United will certainly hope that Ten Hag’s intense work over the summer will help to avoid a repeat of last term’s fitness woes.
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