Manchester united is unarguably one of the top clubs around the globe with very impressive annual financial statement. For years, the theatre of dream club has been in stiff competition with other European elite club such as; Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona football clubs in terms of glory and healthy financial condition.

Since the takeover of the Manchester-based football club by a very affluent American family (The Glazers; Joel and Avram Glazer) in 2005, the Red Devils club’s financial/revenue base has geometrically improved. In 2005, the club declared a sum of £49 million as net profit, but the story astronomically changed in 2015 as the club declared a colossal sum of £196.9 million in commercial revenue which represents a geometric rise of 401%. In the same vein, Manchester United’s Match-day revenue has risen by 31% and its broadcast income risen by 123%. In anticipation, the rich club is yet, closed to announcing annual revenue in the total of £500 million next month.
The Red Devil can boast of some major sponsorship deals; the biggest contracts in shirt sponsorship and kit manufacturing; several global deals with companies such as EA sports and others; and other regional deals that cut across different merchandise products.

With all these, it is crystal clear that Manchester United has array of channels of generating revenue which placed it in the echelon of great clubs in Europe and the world over-when it comes to releasing huge financial statement and paying crazy transfer fees.

Pardon me for the unsolicited preamble, Manchester United’s financial profile is just too great to be overlooked. Let us delve into the main crux now. In recent times, the Red Devils’ expensive transfer business have been receiving a lot of praise and applause from its fans, and a lot of chants and rants from some quarters tagging the club’s expensive spending an act of and financial excessiveness. Speaking about the club’s latest British record signing (Paul Pogba) the Manchester United legend, Paul Scholes opined that;
‘‘I don’t think he (Pogba) is worth the £86 million. For that sort of money, you want someone who is to score 50 goals a season like Ronaldo or Messi. Pogba is nowhere worth that kind of money’’
Arsene Wenger, when asked about the British transfer record deal said;

‘‘it is a complete madness when measured against real life, but we live in which everything that happens is geared towards moving money around.’’

‘‘It is s complete-it seems that if you can afford to do it, you can justify it. Football has become a global competition and that is why clubs are chucking these kind of money around.’’
‘‘Does it make sense because the player can deliver a return on that investment? I don’t think anyone can make that call.’

Following the criticism of stupendous amount United forked out for Pogba’s deal, let us have a highlight of the club’s major expensive signings and how they (had) justif(y)ied their transfer fees over the years.


Juan Sebastian Veron

Transfer fee: £28.1m
Club: SS Lazio
Date: July 1st 2001.

Just a few days after Sir Alex Ferguson set another British record by acquiring the service of Argentine midfield maestro, Veron for a humongous of £28.1m which is £13m higher than what was paid for Alan Shearer (£15M) which was the highest British record then. Veron failed to justify his heavy transfer fee. After two seasons he was offloaded to Chelsea.

Dimitar Berbatov

Transfer fee: £30.7m
Club: Tottenham Hotspur
Date: September 2008

Dimitar Berbatov was exceptionally a stylist footballer for Tottenham FC, skilful, creative with absolute sense of good ball control and goal exploit. Frankly, he was not a kind of striker that would yield 30 goals in a single season but a classic player that would complement the team. But his career at Old Trafford witnessed its lowest ebb as he failed to be impressive. Between 2008 and 2012 Berbatov scored a total goals of 48 in 108 appearance which was too poor for a player signed with big cheque. In 2012, he was shown the exit door to Fulham FC.

To complete this story follow this link; http://sagevibe.com.ng/2016/10/pogbas-deal-and-other-stories/

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