Manchester United rebuilding project under Sir Jim Ratcliffe will continue this summer as the club looks to get over a disastrous 2024/25 season which saw them slump to a 15th place finish - their worst of the Premier League era.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team turned to Ruben Amorim in November after sacking Erik ten Hag and the Portuguese will now be hoping that the hierarchy will provide Manchester United with new signings who are suited to his specific 3-4-3 formation.
The club will also be looking to get some of their higher earners and previous transfer mistakes off the books in an effort to trim a bloated wage bill.
Manchester United face paying stars millions to leave
But that latter goal may be harder than the club had initially hoped, as a report has outlined just how hard some of their unwanted big names may be to shift.
The latest Red Devils player to hint at how he felt about his future at the club was Alejandro Garnacho, who posted a picture of him wearing a Marcus Rashford Aston Villa shirt on social media.
Rashford, who FourFourTwo ranked at no.77 in a list of the world's best 100 players 18 months ago, was loaned out to their Premier League rivals in the January window, had previously been frozen out at Old Trafford, while Antony, an £82million signing in 2022, was sent out to Real Betis for the second half of the season.
Jadon Sancho - a £73million signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2021 - was also allowed to leave on loan last season, joining Chelsea, who opted to pay £5million back to Manchester United, rather than complete a permanent move for him this summer.
Sancho has one year left on his contract at the club, while Rashford, Garnacho and Antony all have deals which run until 2028, which, according to the Telegraph, means that the club is likely to have to subsidise their wages even if the players leave for a rival.
With buying clubs well aware of the fact that Manchester United want ot get this quartet out of the club, they will look to take advantage and exploit the situation, which could see the Red Devils paying millions to move these out-of-favour quartet on.
The report adds that the Red Devils will look to negotiate ‘salary recovery’ from loan deals for their players, but agents believe that the Old Trafford side’s position has been undermined by the fact that they clearly want these players out of the club.
In FourFourTwo’s view, the club are clearly paying for their sins of the past in the transfer window. Manchester United’s bloated, overpaid squad needs significant surgery and turning around a tanker of this size is not something that can be done quickly.
