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Manchester United’s 2022-2023 squad was the most expensive ever assembled.
This is according to The European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report from Uefa.
The document states that “United’s players at the end of their 2023 financial year cost 1.42bn euros (£1.21bn) in combined transfer fees”.
Such humongous transfer fees such as the £82m spent on Antony, £80m for Harry Maguire, £73m on Jadon Sancho and £70m handed over for Casemiro are all counted in the total.
Scarily, the colossal transfer deals of £72m for Rasmus Hojlund, £55m on Mason Mount the £47m splurged on Andre Onana, have not been counted in the total as they came in the following season.
Hence, with likely strong summer investment by INEOS this summer, it is very possible that United’s squad price will break even more records in the not too distant future.
In the 10 and a half seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, the club have won two league cups, one FA Cup and a solitary Europa League. There have also been a couple of second place finishes under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the Mancunian side completed Erik ten Hag’s first season in charge in a respectable third place, to go along with the cup win.
However, such investment has not yielded anything like the results that you would expect as money has been wasted time and time again by the incompetency of the Glazers, Ed Woodward and then John Murtough.
Despite the massive investment, United currently sit sixth in the Premier League and were dumped out of the Carabao cup and Champions League before Christmas.
The signings of Antony and Jadon Sancho have been a disaster in anybody’s books as the Brazilian has woefully struggled with nine goals in 69 appearances and the Englishman has already been banished on loan to Borussia Dortmund by Ten Hag.
Maguire has turned his form around this season to his credit, but he is still only really seen as a back-up option and nobody would sensibly argue that he is worth the fee United had to hand over to Leicester in 2019.
Casemiro had a wonderful first season in Manchester but a combination of injuries and poorer form has certainly taken a massive amount of gloss off the signing of the big name former Real Madrid player.
Taking a look at some other teams on the list also makes for depressing reading.
The report says three other squads, Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid, all cost more than £1bn in transfer fees.
United fans will need no help remembering that the Citizens have been a trophy-winning machine since Pep Guardiola took charge in 2016 and became only the second English team, after United, to win the treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in 2023.
Chelsea have faltered as of late of course but were European champions less than three years ago.
Real Madrid have also won Europe’s top prize an awe-inspiring five times since Sir Alex retired in 2013.
This absolute haemorrhaging of money for little reward is something that INEOS must put an end to. With the hiring of names such as Jean-Claude Blanc, Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada and reportedly Dan Ashworth as soon as next week, the petrochemicals company will hope to significantly increase the value United can find in the transfer market this summer and in the coming years.
Ashworth’s Brighton squad of 2021-2022, that finished just seven points behind United in 2021-22, was assembled for an incredibly low €226.23m, a difference of €1.19 billion. United fans will certainly be hoping, if Ashworth is in fact to become the new sporting director, that he can work some of the same magic at Old Trafford.
