Manchester United’ squad at 2023’s financial year-end cost a collective 1.42 billion euros (£1.21bn) in transfer fees
According to a UEFA report, Manchester United’s team has broken the previous record for the most expensively formed group. By the end of the 2023 fiscal year, the team—which featured players like Casemiro, Jadon Sancho, Harry Maguire, Antony, and Harry Maguire—had paid a staggering £1.21 billion in transfer fees, smashing the previous record set by Real Madrid that year.
Andre Onana, Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, and other new additions are not included in the statistics. Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Chelsea are a few other teams with billion-euro rosters.
According to the report, 105 European top division teams, or 13% of all clubs, have a relationship of cross-investment with one or more other clubs. Groups holding an interest in at least one other European club made 31 purchases of majority stakes and seven purchases of minority stakes in 2023. In addition, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of Ineos, is on the verge of purchasing a quarter of United through an investment group that includes other clubs.
However, less than one transfer per club on average is executed within the same multi-club structure. That percentage has dropped (0.6 transfers per club in 2023 compared to 0.8 in 2021) as multi-club investment groups have grown in size, indicating that player transfers are not the only factor driving the multi-club investment trend.
“More than 300 clubs are part of multi-club investment groups, leading to an increased risk of seeing two clubs with the same owner or investor facing each other in the same competition, creating potential integrity risks at the European level,” stated Andrea Traverso, director of financial sustainability and research at UEFA.
The current environment necessitates increased financial rule harmonisation amongst leagues and tighter execution of cost control laws. Limiting expenditures, “creative finance,” and rule-bending is crucial.
“As long as differences on key regulatory matters continue between leagues, inflationary tensions will persist, contributing to imbalances and instability.”
The study also discovered that among the 20 teams with the highest wage bills, spending on player salaries decreased by 1.1%. While Barcelona and City witnessed significant increases in their salary expenditures, totaling 158 million euros and 68 million euros (£134.8 million and £58 million, respectively), United paid 88 million euros (£75 million) less on player wages in 2023 than the year before.