MANCHESTER UNITED’S summer spending actually strayed close to £200million.
In United’s securities and Exchange Commission filings published on Thursday night, one item read: “Subsequent to 30 June 2026, the registrations of certain players and football management staff were acquired or extended for a total consideration, including associated costs, of £191,731,000.”
United invested £155m to recruit Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, their three senior summer signings in the summer.
The additional £36.73m figure accounts for associated costs of signings, such as agents’ fees, Premier League levies and academy signings.
United bought Tynan Thompson from Tottenham in an £8million deal and recruited Karim Cassim and Isaac Konde from Manchester City and Liverpool.
Compensation fees are still being discussed regarding the transfer of some teenage talents.
The club borrowed £90m to bankroll their frugal summer spending as promoted trio Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City ended the transfer window with a higher net spend.
The club are due to receive £67.9m in transfer fees owed from clubs over the next 12 months but have to repay clubs £193.3m over the same period.
Overall, United still have outstanding transfer fee payments of £375m, although that is a reduction from the £447.1m that was published in their 2024-25 accounts.
The club’s wage bill dropped to £302m in the year ended June 2026 and that will almost certainly increase this year now that United are back in the Champions League.
Man Utd ratings v Fulham
MANCHESTER UNITED salvaged a 1-1 draw as Fulham narrowly missed out on their first Premier League win of the season.
Matheus Cunha’s late deflected strike
Lisandro Martinez’s embarrassing own goal after Senne Lammens parried out Calvin Bassey‘s shot in the 63rd minute summed up a dreadful afternoon for the Red Devils.
United players’ salaries are slashed by 25 per cent whenever they fail to qualify for the competition.
The two rounds of redundancies have reduced the United workforce by almost 30 per cent since Sir Jim Ratcliffe became a minority investor in February 2024.
Staff numbers have plummeted from 1,127 to 805 in the past two years.
United are now around £1.15bn in debt, including transfer instalments they are scheduled to pay.
