Manchester United’s financial situation this January is an open secret with the club making no efforts to hide that they can’t flex their muscle anymore.
The Glazers’ legacy is such that Ineos are having to take ruthless decisions, sometimes at the cost of morale at the club and among the Man Utd fans.
Joshua Zirkzee bore the brunt of it against Newcastle and they have now been sent another reminder of a Glazers mistake as their efforts to get their business moving has hit a snag.
United’s transfer business this January looks to have one big domino holding it up and his name is Marcus Rashford, completely out of Ruben Amorim’s plans as it stands.
Unfortunately, the main avenue for that domino to fall looks increasingly unlikely after recent events.
Marcus Rashford transfer hanging by a thread
Rashford is the player who can kickstart United’s winter business due to his large wages and his status as an academy product, which is why any fee for him will be pure profit.
However, that is easier said than done. Despite multiple teams expressing an interest in his services, Rashford’s wages are a huge stumbling block to any potential move.
The teams he would want to move to won’t pay the wages he’s on at United, nearly £300k/week, and the teams who will match don’t have the pedigree that Rashford desires.
AC Milan were reportedly ready to pay Rashford’s wages but recent reports indicate that the gulf between United’s demands and Milan’s capacity is quite large.
The Times reports that Milan could end Rashford interest after informing United that they can only pay half of his wages at maximum stretch.
Milan’s top earner earns about £150k/week, less than half of what Rashford gets at United so it’s natural they wouldn’t want to upend their whole structure for a player at the lowest ebb of his career.
Thus, United have been sent another reminder about the rotten financial legacy left behind by the Glazers.
Man Utd sent reminder of Glazer error
This was always expected to happen so United are now left in a position where they have to choose between swallowing their pride and taking a financial hit or resetting their reputation.
In this case, it looks like they’ll have to take a financial hit because Rashford’s contract can quickly turn into an albatross around their neck.
He’s not playing and Amorim’s public words have given no indication that the situation is close to changing. Rashford was given a contract that would put him among the top five or ten players in any elite European club.
That was given after a season where he scored 30 in all competitions but he had always been an inconsistent player with high peaks and lowest of troughs.
Anyone could have predicted, even without the benefit of hindsight, that the club should have given him a lower basic wage with performance-based incentives at the time but the Glazers had already ruined the wage structure by then.
The wage structure has been Omar Berrada’s pain point ever since his days at Man City so this situation at Old Trafford would be particularly troubling for him.
Rashford, for better or worse, has become a symbol of Glazers’ financial mismanagement and the Milan transfer hanging by a threat is just another reminder of their errors.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
