I have put together a quick table showing the playing squad in 2021/22, which was assembled exclusively and entirely under the watch of Ed Woodward. Every single contract was signed/renewed under his tenure, so must have been negotiated or approved by him, as CEO.
I have then put together a quick table for this seasons squad. You can already see that the average is down £16,000 per week, despite us being three seasons into the future - i.e. footballers' wages are going up across the board, but our wage bill is trending downwards. This includes recent new long term deals for Shaw, Bruno, Rashford and Garnacho.
The most interesting thing for me, when you dig deeper, is that we have clearly taken steps to enforce some kind of structure. Under Woodward, it appears to have been done completely at random. Now, it's evident that there appears to be a ceiling of £300K (see the Rashford and Casemiro deals done by Arnold/Murtough) and that players are awarded contracts which are far more in-line with what you would expect with respect their position and squad status - i.e. Mount and Bruno are on virtually the same salary.
In addition, compare new signings in similar positions. Antony is very comparable to Sancho in terms of fee paid, age and position. We handed out £350,000 per week to Sancho, but 'only' £200,000 for Antony. Martinez has been signed at CB on a salary of £120,000, compared with Maguire (£190,000) and Varane (£340,000).
Finally, look at three of the top six salaries in 2023/24. Martial, Varane and Sancho account for £940,000 per annum, yet Varane is never fit and Sancho and Martial are bit-part players that the club seem willing to shift. When and if those three leave (and I expect that will be within 18-months), that average wage bill will come down even further. I'm certain we will not be paying their replacements anything like the crazy wages we've handed out previously.
So I reject the idea that there's been no progress or no change of course. I'd say there's clear evidence that a structure has been discussed and implemented and that the club are working to clear high earners from the balance sheet, with a view to bringing salaries under control. Of course, because of the very nature of a 'contract', they cant fix everything in 18-months.
2021/2022 | Salary | | 2023/2024 | Salary |
Ronaldo | £480,000 | | Sancho | £350,000 |
Sancho | £350,000 | | Varane | £340,000 |
DDG | £350,000 | | Casemiro | £300,000 |
Varane | £340,000 | | Rashford | £300,000 |
Pogba | £290,000 | | Martial | £250,000 |
Martial | £250,000 | | Mount | £250,000 |
Cavani | £250,000 | | Fernandes | £240,000 |
Rashford | £200,000 | | Anthony | £200,000 |
Maguire | £190,000 | | Maguire | £190,000 |
Mata | £160,000 | | Eriksen | £150,000 |
Fernandes | £155,000 | | Shaw | £150,000 |
Shaw | £150,000 | | Lindelof | £120,000 |
Lindelof | £120,000 | | Martinez | £120,000 |
Fred | £120,000 | | DvdB | £120,000 |
DvdB | £120,000 | | Onana | £100,000 |
Matic | £120,000 | | AWB | £90,000 |
Henderson | £100,000 | | Dalot | £85,000 |
Telles | £93,000 | | Bailly | £80,000 |
AWB | £90,000 | | Hojlund | £80,000 |
Dalot | £85,000 | | Greenwood | £75,000 |
Bailly | £80,000 | | Malacia | £75,000 |
Jones | £75,000 | | McTominay | £60,000 |
Lingard | £75,000 | | Garnacho | £50,000 |
Greenwood | £75,000 | | Bayindir | £50,000 |
McTominay | £60,000 | | | |
| | | | |
AVERAGE | £175,120 | | AVERAGE | £159,375 |
TOTAL | £4,378,000 | | TOTAL | £3,825,000 |