Delusional Man Utd: Why transfer guru Ashworth's £200m plan is laughable

Tom Weber

• Updated: 3 Jul 2024 20:56 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United are looking to raise £200 million (€236m) in sales this summer, according to a report.

The Red Devils are once again operating on a restricted budget. Despite the investment of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Man Utd reportedly only have as little as €60m to spend on new recruits as things stand.

This is a problem given the bombastic assertions made by Ratcliffe that he would transform Man Utd. While he admitted that it could take several years to complete this transformation, he perhaps underestimated the difficulties the club would face this summer.

READ MORE: Man Utd SHOCKED by Matthijs de Ligt price

After a weeks-long delay due to making a decision on Erik ten Hag's future and the even lengthier haggling with Newcastle over the compensation for sporting director Dan Ashworth, Man Utd's summer business is now slowly kicking into gear, with progress being made in talks with Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee.

However, they aren't the only players they want to sign and funds need to be raised first.

Ashworth's delusional plan

According to The Mirror, Ashworth has identified seven senior players he would axe this summer to realise the 'dream' of freeing up an additional £200m (€236m) for new signings.

Given the talent on Man Utd's books, it should be easy to raise this money. But of course, it depends entirely on the players and this is where this grandiose plan could come unstuck.

READ MORE: Man Utd to sell Mason Greenwood by end of THIS week

The report claims that the seven players in question are Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood and Antony.

These players were signed for a combined €372.7m over the years, while disgraced forward Greenwood is an academy product and Eriksen arrived on a free. The problem is that the Red Devils massively paid over the odds for most of them - the famous Man Utd tax.

Unsurprisingly, then, these players are nowhere near worth the €236m Ashworth wants to miraculously raise. In fact, as per FootballTransfers' in-house Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) algorithm, they combine for a value of just €140.6m, meaning that Man Utd will be lucky to get anywhere near €200m.