Man Utd owe £100m in transfer fees, says financial analyst

By Robert McNamara

Manchester United still owe more than £100m in transfer fees for the players they purchased last summer according to a London based investment director.

United’s splurge on Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind, along with a loan deal for Radamel Falcao, cost the club £181,511,000 in 2014.

It was the largest gross spend in a single transfer window in Premier League history.

Just £75.4m was raised from players sold, leaving the club with a net spend of £106.1m.

Investment Director and football finance blogger Andy Green has said that the figure spent is £40.3m over the club’s cash balance, making it even more important for United to qualify for the Champions League in the 2015/16 season.

According to Green, the money owed is due to United making deferred payments to the clubs they have purchased from and does not include future payments based on appearances and performance targets.

All payments must be made within the next two years.

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“Accepting credit from the people you buy from is as old as the hills and a sensible way to fund any business. But the £100m+ owed has to be paid over the next one to two years,” Green, a former United season ticket holder, wrote in his blog.

“That’s going to put pressure on the club’s cash flow, making it even more imperative to get back into the Champions League and even more problematic if we don’t. Future transfers won’t be affected if selling clubs continue to accept stage payments on this scale, but that can never be guaranteed,” he added.

United is owed £13.7m transfer fees by clubs they have sold players to.