I just want to clarify how NET spend is actually calculated in a operating budget. There's a lot of "we can afford this and this and then its stop" going on.
Net spend is not actually calculated as player bought v player sold in the clubs financial records. Its listed as that in pages like Transfermarkt and the likes, but that's not actually how football clubs accounting works.
Player purchases have a value. That value includes: Transfer fees, agent fees, player wages+imaging rights+sign on fees+contract length. ALL of that combined, is listed in the books as the transfer value. Because that is the clubs listed expense for this asset. The asset is then amortized in the books, normally over the players contract length. for example a player with a contract length of 5 years and an imagined sum total of all costs, is put in the books as y1 £20m y2 £20m and so on. For example Harry Maguire's purchase is not listed as £80m in the clubs financial records, but rather amortized over the length of his contract with equal value pr year. it's a cost writedown.
Bruno Fernandes might have cost £50m (or thereabouts). But his actual transfer total cost is a LOT more than that. Purchases are usually a smaller part of a clubs expense budget. The real cost comes in player salaries and image rights, those are the ones that eat the cash, not the £80million price tag.
Purchases are usually paid out over several quarterly installments over 1-2 years.
So while we might, for example buy players for £200m this year, the clubs EBIDTA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) and cash reserve will usually determine how much we can actually take on in payment obligations. .
There's a lot of posters and even youtube channels that refer to our "net spend" as proof that the club is in trouble.. but that's just not how any of that works whatsoever. It works well as a Transfermarkt listing to give a overview of the clubs business, but as for the accounting aspects of it....not even remotely related.
The key financial aspect is how much cost can Manchester United take on in the operating budget. So while we worry that we will "only have a net spend of £60 million and that's bad". Its because we did not find the player to buy, not because we simply cannot.
Take this overview of the clubs current most expensive contracts. Look what De Gea costs in the length of his contract. He costs 1 Paul Pogba. Alex Sanches costs 1 Maguire. And so on.
The thing we should ALL care about his what the players contract says. Yet this is what absolutely no one cares about. its all about the transfer fee, despite the fee often being way less than the players contract.
The reason i mention all of this is that I want to somehow reassure people that our financial capabilities to actually go on a buyers spree this summer, is very much there. When they say that the money is there, its there. Its part of the clubs current and future operating income. as well as cash reserve that gets depleted and filled with regular intervals.
PLAYER (30) | POS. | AGE | CONTRACT TERMS | AVG. SALARY | TRANSFER FEE | EXPIRES |
---|
David De Gea | GK | 29 | 6 yr£117,000,000 | £19,500,000 | £21,250,000 | 2025 |
Alexis Sanchez | F | 31 | 5 yr£81,900,000 | £16,380,000 | - | 2022 |
Anthony Martial | F | 24 | 6 yr£78,000,000 | £13,000,000 | £51,000,000 | 2025 |
Paul Pogba | M | 26 | 5 yr£75,400,000 | £15,080,000 | £89,250,000 | 2021 |
Harry Maguire | D | 26 | 7 yr£59,250,000 | £8,464,286 | £99,180,000 | 2026 |
Marcus Rashford | F | 22 | 4 yr£41,600,000 | £10,400,000 | - | 2024 |
Luke Shaw | D | 24 | 5 yr£31,200,000 | £6,240,000 | £31,880,000 | 2024 |
Victor Lindelof | D | 25 | 5 yr£31,200,000 | £6,240,000 | £29,750,000 | 2025 |
Frederico de Paula Santos | M | 26 | 5 yr£31,200,000 | £6,240,000 | £52,000,000 | 2023 |
Aaron Wan-Bissaka | D | 22 | 5 yr£23,400,000 | £4,680,000 | £62,700,000 | 2025 |
Nemanja Matic | M | 31 | 3 yr£18,720,000 | £6,240,000 | £38,000,000 | 2020 |
Juan Mata | M | 31 | 2 yr£16,640,000 | £8,320,000 | £38,020,000 | 2022 |
Phil Jones | D | 28 | 4 yr£15,600,000 | £3,900,000 | £16,410,000 | 2024 |
Jesse Lingard | M | 27 | 4 yr£15,600,000 | £3,900,000 | - | 2022 |
Sergio Romero | | | | | | |