Sir Jim Ratcliffe made clear how prominent the matter of player salaries will be in his Manchester United era when he gave unprecedented financial details during his recent round of media interviews.
Usually, high-ranking figures are guarded about getting specific on wages, but Ratcliffe opened the account books to build a case for Ruben Amorim’s reign so far.
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Ratcliffe insisted that Amorim is doing an “excellent job” because, according to his calculations, the players the United head coach has had available are paid sums equal to a mid-ranking team in the Premier League. Ratcliffe named Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount as four of United’s top-eight earners who have been either unfit or on loan.
“If you look at the top eight players in terms of salaries in Manchester United, 50 per cent of those are not available to Ruben,” Ratcliffe told The Times and The Telegraph. “And if you had the same at Manchester City or Liverpool, it would be a very different case for them.”
The issue of player salaries will be at the heart of United’s transfer planning, with executives attempting to be restrained on deals for new signings and determined that those who are paid well are able to feature regularly.
The graphic below shows the squad per position, with the number of years each player has on their contracts beside.
This includes plus-one options for Joshua Zirkzee, Rasmus Hojlund, Sancho, Antony, Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo, Tyrell Malacia, Mount, Toby Collyer, Manuel Ugarte, Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt, Ayden Heaven, Patrick Dorgu, Lisandro Martinez, Leny Yoro, Altay Bayindir, and Andre Onana.
The thing is, United’s wage-to-income ratio is actually very healthy. As the chart demonstrates, United have one of the lowest percentages of salaries set against turnover in the Premier League, and this has been the case for many years.
The issue is that United have often not had their best, highest-paid players available. Take the example of Shaw. Sources, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, say he agreed a deal worth around £200,000 per week, plus bonuses on top, when committing to four more years in April 2023. As with all United players, he has a cut in his terms when the club is out of the Champions League, so his current wage is reduced, but it is said to be less than the standard 25 per cent across the squad.
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At the time Shaw signed, he was a crucial player in United’s team, having appeared for the full games in each leg of the Europa League tie against Barcelona, the Carabao Cup final win over Newcastle, and starred at centre-back in the derby victory against Manchester City. That season in the Premier League, as United finished third, he played 2,555 minutes, behind only David de Gea (3,420), Bruno Fernandes (3,318) and Marcus Rashford (2,888) for United players. He was also entering the final 12 months of his previous deal.
The new contract, taking Shaw to 2027, when he will be 31, was a very good one from his perspective, even if it reflected his place as one of the best left-backs in world football at the time.
But, in hindsight, it did not take full appreciation of his record of availability. The previous season, 2021-22, he played 1,602 Premier League minutes, the 13th-most in the squad, and the injury issues that have pockmarked his career since his leg break in September 2015 came back last campaign. He suffered three different muscle problems, restricting him to 15 club appearances in all competitions and 962 Premier League minutes. His last United start was at Luton Town on February 18, 2024, when he came off with a hamstring issue.
He was able to return for England at last summer’s Euros, starting the final against Spain in his third game at the tournament, but sustained a calf injury in pre-season that ruled him out until Amorim’s first game at Ipswich in November. Two more substitute appearances followed that week but two days after he came on in the 4-0 win over Everton, he posted on Instagram to reveal his “absolute devastation” at picking up another problem in his “toughest period”. United called it a “small setback” but he has not played since.
On February 6, Amorim said Shaw had subsequently sustained “one small issue in a different area from the last injury, so we try to be careful”, and generally United have treated Shaw more cautiously than they would another player in the same position, due to his injury history.
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He has since been allowed time in Doha, Qatar, to work his way to fitness in warm weather, and his return to the grass at Carrington is thought to be close.
But having a significant salary on the sidelines for so long is the kind of thing United want to avoid in future, even if that is easier said than done. The club are examining their medical methods and have physical conditioning a priority among new recruits.
Shaw has faced a lengthy spell on the sidelines (Photo: Charlotte Tattersall – MUFC/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Rashford also agreed his major contract at the peak of his form as he entered the final year of his deal in July 2023. Rashford had scored 30 goals that season under Erik ten Hag and, aged 25, was attracting interest from clubs on the continent including Barcelona.
Nevertheless, the scale of the salary awarded has been commented on internally at United. It is thought his wage can reach £400,000 per week including bonuses. That figure has been reduced this season due to an absence of Champions League football and is believed to now be in the £325,000-per-week range, meaning that although Aston Villa are contributing 70 per cent at present (it can rise to 90 per cent depending on performances) United are still paying him nearly £100,000 per week to play for another club.
Clearly, that was not an outcome predicted when Rashford put pen to paper, but his form tapered off under Ten Hag and culminated in Amorim exiling him from selections over training performances. Rashford’s deal has three years left this summer and any permanent move would have to include a financial resolution. Typically, a player would receive a lump sum equivalent to a percentage of the gap between his salary at a new club and that of his old one. The amount is decided during negotiations.
The same applies to Sancho, who signed on wages of about £250,000 per week when joining from Borussia Dortmund in July 2021. The terms reflected his status as a major recruit at a fee of £73million, but United have never got value for money and his salary limited the exit options when he was banished last season. Dortmund could only afford to pay a percentage when taking him on loan for the second half of the campaign, even if that number rose during the German’s run to the Champions League final, and in the summer the deal struck with Chelsea meant United are still contributing half Sancho’s wage, according to Ratcliffe.
Chelsea agreed a £25m obligation to buy but can pay a £5m fee to back out in certain circumstances, such as Sancho failing to agree personal terms at Stamford Bridge. United are not planning on that scenario, but if it came to pass it would mean Sancho returns to Old Trafford on his contract to 2026, with the option of an extra year. United might have a decision to make over triggering the extension to gain supposed value for a sale — as Ed Woodward used to do while chief executive — but given that would make the club liable for another £10m in wages, the potential benefit is reduced.
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Mount only had a year left on his Chelsea contract when United agreed a fee of £55m plus £5m to get him ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal. He also joined on around £200,000 per week, but earns about £150,000 per week currently, due to the Champions League salary cut. The glowing way in which Amorim has spoken about Mount, who has only made 14 starts since joining, shows he feels United can still make that commitment worthwhile.
That is a prime concern for Ratcliffe. “If you modify our salary bill for the players who are not available to Ruben, then our salary bill ranks us middling, second half of the table,” he told Gary Neville for The Overlap. “Level with the likes of a Nottingham Forest, Everton. Not Manchester City. That salary bill is probably about £130million, and we’re talking about Liverpool, who’ve got a salary bill of £200m, and Manchester City, who’ve got a salary bill of £300m.”
Elsewhere, Ratcliffe said United’s player wage bill is at £250m, some way off the £364.7m in the latest accounts for employee remuneration, as shown by the below graph set against other Premier League sides. At face value, that means manager and coaching costs, executives, plus ordinary staff account for almost £115m.
In that case, Ratcliffe’s assertion to Neville would mean £120m of annual player wages are not being used at present, presumably taking in the four players he named plus injured Amad, Martinez, Yoro, Mainoo, Bayindir, Tom Heaton and Jonny Evans, and on-loan Antony.
In terms of the other players in the top eight for earnings who are available, Ratcliffe made plain his dislike of the Casemiro deal from the beginning of his investment pursuit, asking several firm questions about it to senior staff during his due-diligence stage.
Signing off on Casemiro’s £350,000-per-week wage, on a four-year contract, combined with a potential transfer fee of £70m, was debated at length by United executives at the time, including co-owner Joel Glazer. United agreed because of the need to support Ten Hag, who had lost his first two matches as United manager.
Casemiro turned 33 in February and although his salary dips below £300,000 per week with the club’s Champions League cut, he is still costing a lot compared to his involvement. He has played 1,123 minutes this Premier League campaign, the 14th-highest in the United squad. This summer, he will have one year left, plus an optional extra in the club’s hands.
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The Fernandes model is what United will look to replicate. Despite being a major signing in January 2020, he arrived from Sporting CP on around £100,000 per week, a modest figure in United terms but it was still double his wage in Portugal. He boosted his salary to around £250,000 per week with a new contract in April 2022, despite him having four years left on his deal. United reacted earlier than usual, given his stunning form. His latest contract — signed in August, taking him to 2027, with a year option — was not a major uplift in terms of money. Coming after crunch talks that could have seen Fernandes leave, the new deal was more about a commitment to the future than financial improvement.
Mainoo and Garnacho earn much less than their team-mates but their contracts will need negotiating soon (Photo: John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Amad is on the same trajectory, having arrived from Atalanta on relatively modest wages before penning improved terms to 2030 in January, earning a rise through his performances.
In terms of the other major earners in United’s squad, Harry Maguire is entering the final year of his £190,000-per-week deal — before the Champions League cut — after the club triggered his plus-one, while Christian Eriksen, on a figure shy of that after signing on a free, will depart.
Andre Onana signed on a deal that rises during the duration of his stay, putting him in the same ballpark as Maguire and Eriksen.
Below that, there is Antony, whose current terms are around £105,000 a week, with Real Betis paying 84 per cent as a minimum due to his loan deal. That restraint upon his signing from Ajax meant fewer clubs were priced out when he became available, and that is the approach United want going forwards.
They drove a hard bargain to sign Dorgu on £40,000 per week, but should he perform, the expectation is he will be rewarded.
This determination to stick to a structure is an intriguing factor in the future of Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho. Both former academy players signed their current contracts before they had become regular first-teamers and now United face a decision on whether to give them deals commensurate with their standing or explore sales. In February 2023, Mainoo signed a contract to 2027, plus the option of one further year, worth around £25,000 per week when he was 17. There are believed to be inbuilt uplifts, but they have not kept pace with a player who has 10 senior England caps and a winning goal in an FA Cup final.
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Garnacho’s terms were about £50,000 per week on agreement in April 2023, after he had made 31 appearances for United aged 18. There are rises for performances but not of a level that reflects his standing. His deal runs to 2028, so United do have time on their side.
United’s mission to reduce outgoings is clear, but so too is the correlation between wages and position in the Premier League, a point Ratcliffe has made.
He also gave a hint that for the elite stars, exceptions can be made. “We pay people really well at INEOS,” he said. “But we don’t pay too many people really well.”
