Man Utd chiefs set two summer transfer budgets, as report reveals how restrictive CL miss would be
Man Utd will spend less this summer than last year after a report revealed how their budget will look with or without Champions League qualification.
Before the current season, Manchester United spent heavily to sign long-term target Jadon Sancho, bring back Cristiano Ronaldo and add Raphael Varane. However, their summer of investment has not reaped the rewards it should have.
Man Utd risk missing out on a top-four place by the end of the Premier League season. They went into this weekend in the Champions League places, but a couple of clubs could catch them due to games in hand.
Their mixed form earlier in the season cost manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job. Ralf Rangnick replaced him on an interim basis and will be trying to guide the club into the Champions League for his successor – whoever that may be.
But the new man (which could be either Mauricio Pochettino or Erik Ten Hag) will not have a huge budget either way, as the Telegraph have now revealed the figures Man Utd are set to make available for transfers.
According to the report, Man Utd will have a budget of £80m in they qualify for the Champions League, or £50m if they do not.
If it is to be the latter, it would represent their lowest summer spend since the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Not being able to spend so much may be problematic for a squad in need of evolution.
The Telegraph remind that Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard are out of contract at the end of the season. If they all leave for free – as could Juan Mata – it would not help United balancing the books.
Replacements would need to be sourced in midfield and up front that would fit within United’s spending limits.
Securing Champions League football for next season – either by finishing in the top four or winning this year’s competition – would give them some more flexibility.
So too would offloading some of their other players for transfer fees. However, high wages may be putting off suitors in a number of cases.
Rangnick comments on Man Utd manager role
Before identifying transfer targets, Man Utd must work out who their manager will be after Rangnick.
The interim boss will have a say on who succeeds him. One clue may have dropped recently when he openly discussed Ajax counterpart Ten Hag, and their manager search in general.
He told Sky Sports: “So far we haven’t at all spoken about that. Nobody, not only John Murtough, but nobody else.
“We haven’t had that topic in the last weeks and months since I’m here. I know my opinion but so far we haven’t spoken about that. So this is what I can only tell you.”
Asked about Ten Hag, he said: “I don’t know him to start with as a person. But obviously I see the development at Ajax took since he was there.
“I also know a little bit about his work that he did when he was with Bayern Munich. And that he’s one of the top coaches in Europe. It’s obvious.
“But there are a few other top coaches in Europe but as I said, we haven’t spoken about any new manager so far and therefore we also didn’t speak about him.”
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