United healthy despite record €95m losses, Gill insists

MANCHESTER United chief executive David Gill insists there is no pressure to sell star players such as Wayne Rooney despite the club making losses of £83.6 million (€95.8m).

Gill said the fact the club would prefer to still have “Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch than £80m (€91.6m) in the bank” was proof of their desire to keep players.

Although United’s group operating profit topped £100.7m (€115.4m), after player-related costs, interest payments and a number of expensive one-off costs related to the bond issue, overall there was a record loss for the club. Gill said the accounts released yesterday were “very good” with excellent revenues, and said there should be no concern about United going down the same road as Liverpool, whose American co-owners have struggled to finance their ownership.