Cash-strapped Man Utd Can Forget about Winning Premier League by 2028 – Transfer Woes Guaranteed to Continue as New Stadium Plans Advance

INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone to great lengths to cut costs at Old Trafford, but the club remains mired in huge debt

On Wednesday, Manchester United posted their financial results for 2025-26, and there were plenty of positives. The club announced record revenues of £677.6 million ($900m) and an operating profit of £22.6m ($30m) – impressive numbers considering there was no European football on offer at Old Trafford last season.

“We are pleased to have secured record revenues,” chief executive Omar Berrada said. “This demonstrates the underlying strength of our business, and shows the direct impact of the work we have been doing over the past two years.”

That work included two sets of redundancies that led to 450 people at the club losing their jobs, as Sir Jim Ratcliffe delivered on his promise to make “unpopular” decisions for what he perceives as the greater good. United’s wage costs have dropped by 3.6 per cent to £301m ($399m) under INEOS’ watch, which the club confirmed is “primarily due to changes in the make-up of the men’s first-team squad, combined with savings associated with headcount reduction programs implemented over the previous two fiscal years”.

After the £113.2m ($150m) loss recorded in 2023-24, the new ownership regime has steadied the ship, with Berrada claiming that the latest results “prove Manchester United’s enduring popularity and commercial strength”. There is a major caveat, though, as he added: “While we are on the right trajectory, we will continue to take a disciplined approach to ensure our finances remain sustainable.”

United’s total debt remains over £1 billion, and they’ve committed £63.5m ($84m) towards land for the team’s new 100,000 capacity stadium. This effectively rules out the possibility of any significant recruitment drives for the foreseeable future. If INEOS’ long-term plans are to come to fruition, more misery is guaranteed on the pitch, because the current squad won’t get the major surgery it needs.

No chance for Carrick

United still reported an annual loss for the seventh successive year, this time of £43m ($57m), an increase of £10m on the previous 12 months, and their net debt rose from £471.9m ($624m) to £577.6m ($724m) after the refinancing of several loans. They also had to pay out £8.5m to sacked managed Ruben Amorim, and £148m ($196m) was invested in three new players: Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans.

That was a conservative transfer outlay, though. Enzo Maresca was handed a £458m ($606m) war chest at Manchester City, and United were also significantly outspent by Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Premier League champions Arsenal. Even newly-promoted Ipswich Town put more money into new signings.

Michael Carrick did brilliantly to guide the Red Devils to a third-placed finish after replacing Amorim, but wasn’t given the tools to take the next step. Indeed, United have actually fallen well behind their rivals again after a poor start to the new season, sitting in 12th after winning only one of their first five league games.

The squad lacks the strength in depth needed to compete across multiple competitions – a point further proven by their stunning third-round exit from the Carabao Cup at the hands of Brighton. It’s difficult to see United getting in the top five again, let alone winning a trophy, and Carrick has no chance of a long stay in the hot seat while the club sticks to a “disciplined” approach in the transfer market.

Unrealistic aim

Speaking to club fanzine United We Stand in June last year, Berrada reiterated INEOS’ aim to bring the Premier League trophy back to Old Trafford in time for their 150th anniversary in 2028. “We’ve just finished 15th and it seems an impossible task. But why not aim for it? Why not do everything in our power? “I firmly believe we can do it,” he said.

“We have two or three summer windows to build a team to start competing to win the Premier League. Nobody is saying we don’t want to win it until then. We’re setting ourselves a target with a specific time frame to go and aim for.”

That task looks even more impossible now than it did then. United secured deals for Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko to strengthen the attack that summer, and brought in Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens to replace the calamitous Andre Onana, which was a great start, but the rebuild Berrada promised has since stalled.

The latest transfer window plan was billed as a midfield overhaul, but Tielemans doesn’t have the same all-round game as the recently departed Casemiro, and Andrey Santos was signed to cover for the injured Manuel Ugarte. Although Baleba will add vital energy and physicality to the engine room, it could easily be argued it is weaker now.

United conceded 50 goals last term, too, so it’s no surprise that their shaky defence is leaking goals again after being neglected completely. Man City are already 10 points clear of their neighbours at the Premier League summit, meaning any title hopes are dead for this season, and the 2027-28 campaign is unlikely to go much better without an influx of new faces. By setting unrealistic targets, INEOS have only alienated a deeply frustrated fanbase even further.

Glazer ‘handbrake’

United believe their financial situation will look far better this time next year, having forecasted 2026-27 revenues of between £740m ($982m) and £760m ($1bn). That confidence stems from their new £20m ($26m) training kit sponsorship agreement with Betway, official sleeve partnership with SumUp, and the rewards that come with participating in the Champions League.

“There will be substantial bonuses paid by sponsors because Manchester United are participating in the Champions League this season,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire has told Sky Sports. “That means a minimum of an extra four matches at Old Trafford. And also different sets of eyeballs, different demographics of fans will be watching midweek football compared to weekend football. So I’m expecting and the club’s expecting a bounce back on the commercial side on the back of success in getting into Europe.”

However, Maguire does not expect a swift return to the glory days, because the Glazer family’s debt structure as majority owners continues to drain the accounts at Old Trafford. He added on the Price of Football podcast: “There’s almost £70 million in interest costs [over the last year]. United were stung by the exchange rate movement issue, but over the course of the Glazer ownership, we’ve now got total interest costs in excess of £1 billion.

“That’s £1 billion that could have gone into sports science, it could have gone into the transfer budget, it could have gone into better facilities for fans. The level of debt has gone up. They’ve admitted that. I know they’ve rescheduled the debt, but at higher interest rates. So that’s going to be a further handbrake on Manchester United. And it does mean that there is extra pressure there on the footballing side of the club in terms of delivering results.”

‘Worst scenario’

Berrada also confirmed that United’s “other main area of focus” is on the development of the ‘Wembley of the North’, set to be built 350 yards away from where Old Trafford is currently situated. However, the club are still to reveal how they will fund the project, which forms part of the wider regeneration scheme for Manchester’s Trafford Wharfside, and Maguire is not convinced of its feasibility.

“Part of the reason for the increase in debt is due to technical reasons involving exchange rates, but the Glazers brought it upon themselves by their decision to borrow from the United States,” he said on Sky Sports. “The gross debt is £689 million. On top of that, we’ve got transfer debt and that’s likely to be in the region of £350 to £400 million. So therefore, we’ve got a billion pounds worth of football debt and traditional debt.

“How is the club therefore going to be able to fund a new stadium, which some people are saying could cost up to a further two billion? Where’s the money going to come from there?”

Maguire continued on his podcast: “The club is never going to generate enough cash to be able to repay the debt, unless they produce dozens and dozens of young football players in the same way that Chelsea do and, to a certain extent, City do through their academy. They’re not going to make it from Old Trafford itself. And of course, the debt is going to go higher and higher with the new stadium.

“Once approval is given, that’s when you get the worst scenario. You’re borrowing money to pay for the construction, so you’ve got those interest costs, and you’re not getting the benefit of having the bigger stadium. So there’s no positive when it comes to revenues and you’ve got the negatives when it comes to costs.”

Better planning needed

That does not necessarily mean that United’s have to keep their transfer activity to a minimum until the new stadium opens, though, with the club working for it to be operational in time for the 2035 Women’s World Cup.

“In the cases of both Arsenal and Spurs, it did lead to a cutting down of investment on the playing side of things. It could be, however, that the owners manage to ring fence the financing and the interest costs only kick in once the new stadium opens,” Maguire said to Sky Sports. “And if that’s the case, they might be able to maintain the levels that will be expected by the huge Manchester United fanbase and all of the people who take a keen interest in the club.”

Even if that proves to be the case, the INEOS top brass will have to be far more proactive about player sales when navigating through this period. More incomings could have been sanctioned had United raised money by offloading the likes of Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount, while Marcus Rashford’s £325,000-per-week salary continues to be a weight around the club’s neck.

Clearing out the deadwood early and targeting players with top-class potential will be essential in upcoming windows. There can be no room for passengers, or further expensive signings like Santos, who didn’t make the grade at Chelsea and will probably just end up being a squad player at Old Trafford. Maintaining the current recruitment level won’t be nearly good enough; meticulous planning is required to maximise limited resources.

Toxic atmosphere

United will have trouble holding onto their best and most promising players, too, should their inconsistency continue. Fifteen-year-old wonderkid JJ Gabriel is on the verge of leaving because his family and representatives believe United have fallen too far behind the elite clubs, with Real Madrid and Barcelona both circling.

Meanwhile, club captain Bruno Fernandes is set to be out of contract next summer, and he’d be even an even greater loss than Gabriel. Fernandes has been the one ray of light in one of the darkest periods in United’s history, carrying the team on his back with his endless creativity and staggering output in the final third.

Without a proper roadmap to tangible success, why should the Portuguese playmaker stick around? Fernandes turned down a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia last summer, but needs fresh assurances that United can match his ambitions.

“My goal has always been to win the biggest competitions and the Premier League is part of it. And I still have that dream in me and I hope to achieve it,” he told ESPN in April.

Unfortunately for Fernandes and United supporters in general, those dreams feel further away than ever. Constructing a glitzy new stadium is not going to solve all of their problems. On the contrary, it could become a massive burden, and not just from a financial standpoint; if the standard of football doesn’t match up to the world-class surroundings, the atmosphere will turn toxic – just ask Tottenham.

Of course, it’s been that way at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Unless a supremely wealthy new investor comes in with a ridiculous offer to buy out both the Glazers and INEOS – neither of whom have been deterred by regular fan protests – United will probably remain in a cycle of failure. After so many years of mismanagement at all levels, there’s no reason to believe that an exciting new dawn is just around the corner.

Source: www.goal.com