Man united transfer debt hits record levels after £218m summer splurge

FINANCIAL FIGURES RELEASED BY MAN UTD THIS WEEK HAVE REVEALED HOW MUCH MONEY THEY OWE CLUBS FOR TRANSFER FEES STILL OUTSTANDING. 09:00, 21 Feb 2025 Manchester United owe clubs almost

£391million in unpaid transfer fees, a rise of £60million since the latest summer transfer window. United spent £218million on new players in Erik ten Hag's final window in charge, but

a lot of their recent business has been done on the club's credit card and by paying fees in instalments and the debt to other clubs has steadily risen. The figure stood at

£331.4million at the end of June 2024, but the latest financial figures to the end of December last year show it has now hit £390.79million, with around £200million of that due in the next

12 months. United are also owed £90.8million in transfer fees from other clubs, with around half of that due to be paid in the next year. United's transfer debt has rocketed in recent

years, and its latest figure is the highest it has ever been. When Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, they owed just £34million in fees, and even in 2021, the total stood at just

£136million. It has risen rapidly since spending more than £600million on new players in the three summer transfer windows under Ten Hag. Some of those deals have already been proven

disastrous, notably the 2022 window, which saw £70million spent on Casemiro and £85million on Antony. The latter is now on loan at Real Betis without an obligation to buy, while United

can't shift Casemiro, the highest-earning player in the squad. Article continues below United also owe a potential £136.4million in performance-related add-ons negotiated as part of

their recent transfer activity. It is unlikely that the figure will be hit in its entirety, and each deal will have separate add-on clauses. The figure has gone up from £115.6million at the

end of June. The transfer debt is a problem for United ahead of a crucial summer transfer window as Ineos try to give Ruben Amorim the tools he needs to be a success at Old Trafford. The

squad the Portuguese head coach has inherited is unsuited to playing his 3-4-2-1 system and he will want to overhaul it in 2025. The club's latest financial results revealed a cash

balance of just £95.5million, which included a further £80million injection from Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The depleted cash reserves are why the club has used its revolving credit facility in

recent years. That facility has a limit of £300million, and at the end of December 2024, the balance stood at £210million.