How Man United can afford all their signings as £313m reason given for transfer splurge

From the outside looking in the optics around Manchester United paying big money for new signings on the back of a dismal domestic season and no European football to look forward to look, at best, confusing.

Matheus Cunha arrived this past week from Wolverhampton Wanderers in a £62.5million five-year deal. Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo is next on the hit list if reports are to be believed, with the Bees man valued at around £50m.

The noise heading into the summer was that United would have a £100m transfer fund to put to work in the event of no Champions League. The deals for both Cunha and Mbeumo would wipe that out and then some, with £112.5m worth of fees.

The deal for Cunha will be rubber-stamped at the end of this month when the Brazilian returns from international duty, and it will likely kick in from July 1, which is the start of a new financial year for United. The same will likely be the case for any Mbeumo deal, or indeed any other arrivals that the club has planned.

And Dave Powell, chief business of football writer at Reach PLC, has explained how the Reds will look to avoid breaching the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) while still being able to strengthen their squad.

“Manchester United made a pre-tax loss for the 2023/24 financial year of £130.7m," he said. "In the three years up to and including 2023/24 they made combined losses of £313m, well above the £105m threshold when it comes to PSR. However, when taking into account allowable deductions, which include £35m of share sale costs related to the minority stake purchase by Sir Jim Ratcliffe in December 2023, the total comes to £170m, resulting in a net PSR position of minus £103m. That put United £2m under the PSR breach threshold for