United to introduce a wage structure capped at 200k per week

[georgipep]

My immediate reaction is the same. A firm structure seems an overly restrictive way to go about it. It's hard not to think something similar could not be achieved simply by exercising better judgment in contract decisions. But I suppose with the salary structure we already have in place, a clear signal is needed. It will inevitably limit what we can do in the transfer market and make us more reliant on acquiring younger players who genuinely want to play for United, but maybe that's a good thing. Big worry though is how do we keep players who are proven top global talent? An official and clearly defined wage cap should make us very poachable and more vulnerable - opposing teams will know how high they need to go in order to be a sufficiently enticing option.

Such a big fiscal policy seems a bit fakenews considering the expected sale of the club. If it temporary until new owners come, then who cares, it's only relevant for January signings and we already expected they would be for less than 200k, right?

If Glazers sell, then such policies don't matter one bit as new owners will re-evaluate everything.

 

[justsomebloke]

Such a big fiscal policy seems a bit fakenews considering the expected sale of the club. If it temporary until new owners come, then who cares, it's only relevant for January signings and we already expected they would be for less than 200k, right?

If Glazers sell, then such policies don't matter one bit as new owners will re-evaluate everything.

Very good and obvious point. But not so obvious that I thought of it myself.

 

[CM]

It might sound good on paper but we already have a few above that threshold, even after the 25% drop in wages due to no Champions League football.

I don't think we actually need a hard and fast rule like that. If we get new owners and have more spending power, £200k a week isn't actually that much in the grand scheme. You just have to make sure you aren't handing out stupid contracts like we have with Alexis Sanchez, de Gea and Ronaldo in recent years. It shouldn't be that difficult.

 

[FujiVice]

So what does this all matter if we are up for sale? You think this even comes into play once new owners are on board? This just seems like more tightening of the belt before a sale, rather than an actual attempt at smart business.

 

[DannyCAFC]

Nice idea but how is this going to work in practicality? Isn't Rashford already on more than this? So on the back of a very good season he'd have to accept a wage cut to stay?

 

[Member 101269]

That’s it people, time to close the thread.

Even if you shift to performance related pay not all factors will be equal across the squad. In other words it's just shifting the inequality. it's not happening.

 

[AltiUn]

Everyone talking about Mbappe, like ... come on. Even if he did become available we're hardly going to be first choice on his list

 

[AltiUn]

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Neville genuinely doesn't want the club to diverge from the path it's currently on.

 

[Orange Tree]

Players will instead get a new condo or a yacht in Dubai.

 

[Coxy]

Conflicted about this. If true, in theory I like it - great for harmony and other reasons people have stated already in here.

but.. it does rule us out from the best talent out there and what happens when our players are offered £350k elsewhere - would they really stay at £200k?
Good in theory but not sure how practical this is.

 

[TheReligion]

For 21/22 (last published accounts) we were £30m higher than City. 2nd at best then if we were in the CL like for like.

Players like Rashford and Shaw aren't going to take a pay cut on renewal especially as they are approaching the chance to go for free.

For reference City pay KdB 400k, Haaland 375k, Grealish 300k, Cancelo 250k.

Sterling 325k, Koulibaly 300k, Kante 295k, James 250k.

Salah 350k, VVD 220k, Thiago 200k, TAA 180k.

Rashford is on 200k and Shaw 180k.

Some of our older deals like De Gea and Sancho are too much but it is something we are getting a grip of.

I suspect where we have struggled is giving too much cumulatively to ‘lesser’ players. Our top end is less than our rivals but the middling area is messy.

There’s no chance we are top now though. Especially when you take 500k from Ronaldo off.

 

[Havak]

It seems stupid at first to introduce such a cap when most other top / rich clubs simply will not, so those might seem more lucrative.

However, I'm sure there's far more to it. Bonuses for playing well and significantly better media and sponsorship opportunities come to mind. Players can probably make more from those than their base salary these days...

 

[Woodzy]

Hmmm i'm not sure. The idea is right but it makes us less able to compete at a time when we really need to be able to.

 

[90 + 5min]

If true, as it is told, I really like it. We need to stop this nonsens about giving people money they don’t deserve. I would even go down more. Great job by those in charge.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

This is obviously bollocks

Shit source. And No way is Casemiro on 200k or lower

 

[DatIrishFella]

Those Gary Neville tweets on the matter are laughable. He can be a right numpty.

 

[DatIrishFella]

This is obviously bollocks

No way is Casemiro on 200k or lower

Probably 180k net.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

This has been a long time coming. Way too many prima donnas leeching off the club and giving no fecks just because they already got the fat contracts.

who

 

[Leftback99]

For reference City pay KdB 400k, Haaland 375k, Grealish 300k, Cancelo 250k.

Sterling 325k, Koulibaly 300k, Kante 295k, James 250k.

Salah 350k, VVD 220k, Thiago 200k, TAA 180k.

Rashford is on 200k and Shaw 180k.

Some of our older deals like De Gea and Sancho are too much but it is something we are getting a grip of.

I suspect where we have struggled is giving too much cumulatively to ‘lesser’ players. Our top end is less than our rivals but the middling area is messy.

There’s no chance we are top now though. Especially when you take 500k from Ronaldo off.

Exactly so Rashford in current form isn't going to sign for £200k a week again.

It seems pretty simple to me, just pay players what they could get elsewhere at the most. Too many of our squad players are on ridiculous contracts hence our issues with selling for reasonable fees.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

This doesn’t mean much really because whoever takes over the club can choose to pay players whatever wages they like. Good idea in principle but the way the games headed £200k a week simply doesn’t cut it these days when I comes to acquiring the real world class talents out there, and unless we want to lose out on them all to rival clubs then exceptions have to be made.

 

[Leftback99]

This is obviously bollocks

Shit source. And No way is Casemiro on 200k or lower

Yeah he needs a new agent if he's on less than Varane or Sancho.

 

[Neil_Buchanan]

Our wage related issues have always been that we pay our players at the bottom of the heap too much and then cannot shift them because despite being the worst player at our club they would be the highest paid player at most other PL clubs and this is going to do nothing to fix that.

 

[Roux]

This is obviously bollocks

Shit source. And No way is Casemiro on 200k or lower

De Gea, Sancho, Varane & Casemiro are all on £300k+

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/manchester-united-fc/payroll/
https://www.capology.com/club/manchester-united/salaries/

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Maguire referred to as a senior figure makes me sad. He’s now a bench warmer and 4th choice? Can’t wait to get rid.

 

[90 + 5min]

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Neville needs to calm down. This is only for the good of club and football in general

And he doesn’t exactly make himself a case when he talks about one average player and one talent. This is why such thing should be done. To stop giving money to players that don’t deserve that much.

 

[TheReligion]

De Gea, Sancho, Varane & Casemiro are all on £300k+

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/manchester-united-fc/payroll/

Varane and Casemiro are heavily incentivised though. To get that pay we need to hit our objectives as a team.

 

[JustKatie]

I do kinda understand this. Imagine if it was your job and some old legend came into your company on more than double your pay and underperformed massively, you'd have the right to be frustrated at your management.

200K a week is a ton of money and with performance related bonuses could easily become 300K plus.

The only real worry is that this is a Glazer incentive as they can't find a buyer for the price they want so are already cutting costs.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

If they’re going to recruit better players and keep our wage bill manageable that’s great. Crack on and do it. I don’t see how announcing a self imposed wage cap is anything other than damaging to the club.

 

[TheReligion]

Exactly so Rashford in current form isn't going to sign for £200k a week again.

It seems pretty simple to me, just pay players what they could get elsewhere at the most. Too many of our squad players are on ridiculous contracts hence our issues with selling for reasonable fees.

It will be heavily incentivised I imagine to bump it up

 

[arnie_ni]

Those Gary Neville tweets on the matter are laughable. He can be a right numpty.

How so?

 

[finneh]

Sounds like nonsense. We have the highest wage bill in the league and they aren't all going to take a pay cut.

Agreed. Given that we already have several players earning more than this (De Gea, Varane, Casemiro, Sancho, Martial, Fernandes) and that our most in form player will be negotiating a new deal expecting a large increase from a level similar to this, it can't be anything but nonsense.

Ultimately our mess of a wage structure isn't due to paying Casemiro or Varane £300k a week, as proven world class players that could get this salary at a number of clubs.

It's paying players far in excess of what anyone else would pay. It's unneccesarily doubling Maguire's salary when we were the only team close to matching Leicester's valuation. It's doing the same with Sancho. It's quintupling Antony's salary under the same circumstances. It's tripling Martial's salary to that of a world class forward when he'd shown the inconsistency you'd expect of a 23 year old. It's the panicked De Gea contract paying him double that of a very good goalkeeper. It's paying Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Jones, Fred, Henderson, Telles, Bailly etc £2m a year more than they'd get elsewhere.

Hopefully the message is that of better fiscal judgment in paying market rates rather than a strict cap on salaries. I think we'd all agree that missing out on Varane and Casemiro; or failing to renew Rashford's deal, due to a cap on salaries would do far more harm than good.

 

[Catt]

Pay structure will likely be heavily reliant on bonuses moving forward, which is fine

Yes.

As it should be.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It will be heavily incentivised I imagine to bump it up

So then there isn’t a 200k wage cap. So what’s the point of telling the press there’ll be one?

 

[TheReligion]

Pay structure will likely be heavily reliant on bonuses moving forward, which is fine

Yeah it has already moved that way.

 

[Roux]

Varane and Casemiro are heavily incentivised though. To get that pay we need to hit our objectives as a team.

This is probably a better way to go - not necessarily have a cap, but incentivised contracts depending on performance.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Like, who is this announcement aimed at? Who will be impressed? The players definitely won’t be. Nor will any player considering signing for us. Just a very odd decision to make this public. Maybe they’re trying to fool potential buyers into thinking that running the club isn’t as expensive as it really is?

 

[TheReligion]

So then there isn’t a 200k wage cap. So what’s the point of telling the press there’ll be one?

It’s how they have interpreted it I imagine . It’s old news really. It was widely reported that players lost up to 25% for failing to get CL football last season.

United have been moving towards lower base rates and higher incentives since the changes behind the scenes.

 

[TheReligion]

Like, who is this announcement aimed at? Who will be impressed? The players definitely won’t be. Nor will any player considering signing for us. Just a very odd decision to make this public. Maybe they’re trying to fool potential buyers into thinking that running the club isn’t as expensive as it really is?

It’s not really a big deal and didn’t stop the likes of Casemiro and Martinez coming in the summer

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It’s how they have interpreted it I imagine . It’s old news really. It was widely reported that players lost up to 25% for failing to get CL football last season.

United have been moving towards lower base rates and higher incentives since the changes behind the scenes.

The alleged salary we’re paying our most recent signings wouldn’t support that idea.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It’s not really a big deal and didn’t stop the likes of Casemiro and Martinez coming in the summer

That would be because there was no talk of a wage cap in the summer. This is the first time anyone heard of it. Plus I seriously doubt we’re paying Casemiro less than 200k/week.