Manchester United's £1.2bn squad was the most expensively-assembled on record

15 February 2024 , 09:39

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Manchester United has been identified in the report as part of a multi-club investment group. It comes as Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is close to completing the purchase of a 25 per cent stake in the club (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Manchester United's squad has set a new UEFA record for being the most expensive ever assembled.

The team, as of the end of last season, cost 1.42 billion euros (£1.21bn) in transfer fees, beating Real Madrid's 2020 record of 1.33 billion euros. The Red Devils' line-up included big names like £82million Brazilian winger Antony, £80m England defender Harry Maguire, £73m signing Jadon Sancho and the £60m Brazil midfielder Casemiro.

However, recent additions such as Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund are not included in these figures. UEFA's European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report also revealed that Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid have squads costing over one billion euros in transfer fees.

Chelsea's latest figures, which do not include their heavy spending in summer 2022 or the January 2023 window, were up to the year end June 30, 2022. Manchester United is now one of 15 Premier League clubs identified in the report as part of a multi-club investment group.

This comes as Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is close to completing the purchase of a 25 per cent stake in the club. Ineos also owns majority stakes in French side Nice and Swiss club Lausanne. The report shows that 105 top European football clubs are linked with other clubs through investments. In 2023, there were 31 big deals and seven smaller ones by groups already involved in other clubs.

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But the report also says that these clubs don't often swap players between each other. Even as more clubs join these big groups, they're trading less - only 0.6 times each in 2023, down from 0.8 in 2021. UEFA's Andrea Traverso said: "More than 300 clubs are part of multi-club investment groups, leading to an increased risk of seeing two clubs with the same owner or investor facing each other in the same competition, creating potential integrity risks at the European level."

He added: "The current context demands strict enforcement of cost control regulations and more harmonisation of financial rules between leagues. This is paramount to limit overspending, 'creative finance', and rules circumvention. As long as differences on key regulatory matters continue between leagues, inflationary tensions will persist, contributing to imbalances and instability."

The report also revealed that spending on player wages fell by 1.1 per cent among the clubs with the 20 highest player wage bills, with United shelling out 88m euros (£75m) less on player wages in 2023 compared to the previous year. Barcelona and Manchester City saw significant increases in player wages spending 158m euros and 68m euros (£134.8m and £58m) respectively.

Lawrence Matheson