Manchester United buyout madness is simply a sign of the times. Football is clearly reaching the pinnacle of its commercial madness, as clubs start to buy players out of their lucrative contracts in a blind panic to hang on to success. Leading the pack of this extraordinary phenomenon is the former premier league giant Manchester United.
https://twitter.com/erikaeldora/status/1139874464915755013?s=19
According to reports, United want to pay a £13m lump sum to offload top of the flops Alexis Sanchez and according to The Express, they also want to pay goalkeeper David De Gea, a strange £20m incentive to leave for another club. PSG and Barcelona are thought to be interested in the Spaniard and United are willing to pay big before his contract expires and he is able to leave for nothing.
What a sorry state of affairs to say the least but this is going to be more and more common with clubs spending more on players than they can afford to achieve success. When it works, the rewards are huge but when it doesn’t, you have a club hemorrhaging money with a player that is superfluous to requirements.
Like Arsenal with the Ozil debacle, United have their own issues with Lukaku, Pogba, Sanchez and De Gea and despite the best efforts of Solskjaer and Mourinho before him, United have been dining in the best restaurant on the planet only to find themselves ingesting cold and soggy chips.
Jan Oblak wants to leave Atletico and could replace De Gea at United if he leaves for PSG (ESPN) This despite him signing a new contract two months ago with a 103 million release clause…..#MUFC pic.twitter.com/ZbwReDyRoM
— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) June 10, 2019
Just looking at the Sanchez situation reveals the level of the farce of club like United paying exorbitant amounts of cash only to get absolutely nothing in return. Sanchez at Arsenal was a shining star and a sublime talent. Sanchez at United has been an utter disappointment barely reaching 10% of his potential but on a wage that Ronaldo may not have sniffed at several years ago.
| Time Frame | Earnings |
| Per second | £0.83 |
| Per minute | £49.60 |
| Per hour | £2,976 |
| Per day | £71,429 |
| Per week | £500,000 |
| Per month | £2m |
Chart courtesy of Goal.com
United are not the only ones to catch a cold in the transfer market, Barcelona have spent millions on players that they can’t utilise in their side or within the system they employ. As a result, they probably have 11 players waiting in the wings waiting for their opportunity that could collectively challenge for a top six place in the premier league.
Ivan Rakitic, Malcom, Samuel Umtiti, Marc Cucurella, Philippe Coutinho, Denis Suárez and Ousmane Dembélé have cost a packet, with Coutinho alone costing €120m in January 2018.
Alexis Sanchez and his salary is the main problem in many players contract negotiations and can have a negative effect on #MUFC transfer targets as well.
The sooner he will be sold the better it will be. #1MUN— Man United Source (@1ManUnitedNews) June 7, 2019
The truth is that some big talents and names just don’t fit together and they probably look better on paper than in practice. Of course, it won’t stop clubs buying them and it won’t prevent players from failing, because the rewards are such that losing the odd £10 or £20 million is regrettable but it means nothing in reality.
Commercial opportunities have made all this madness possible and with the prospect of an elitist super league on the horizon, it places even greater pressure on clubs to remain at the top.
