Manchester United’s summer business has the potential to age well except for Mason Mount, who has a tall task ahead of him.
Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund have both started impressing after bad starts and the hope is that the fee paid for them turns out to be a bargain.
Even more so now, as the FA have revealed how much each club spent on agents in the 2023/24 financial year.
The report puts Manchester United in third place, having spent £34 million on agents in the last year. That figure is could have lent United a striker in the winter window!
Leading the way are, as expected, Chelsea, who blew £75 million on agents after trying to buy their way out of a bad season.
United’s rivals Manchester City are second as they spent north of £60 million to grease the wheels of negotiations.
City signed multiple players for huge sums in the summer and finalised many contract renewals which is reflected in these figures.
United, on the other hand, didn’t have to be that involved since the players’ contracts have an automatic salary bump and reduction depending upon Champions League qualification.
A look at the list of agents who were paid in the last financial year showed that for some transfers, multiple entities were paid.
For example, in the case of Andre Onana, Albert Bottines and Keysport Management Ltd were paid for their services.
Coming down in rankings for this list is something that will be of priority to Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Putting a cap on agents’ fees has long been on the agenda of clubs worldwide but there has been strong pushback on the same, as would have been expected.
Still, the big gap between Chelsea-City and the rest of the league, United included shows that at least the Red Devils are trending in the right direction.
It will be interesting to see this report next summer at the same time as it would represent the figures of the first summer with Sir Jim Ratcliffe in charge of sporting matters.
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