Man Utd: Ronaldo and De Gea 'face wage cut' as club miss out on Champions League

Following their 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Brighton on Saturday evening, Manchester United can no longer qualify for next season’s Champions League – and their absence is set to hit the club very hard financially.

Europe’s premier club competition offered maximum prize money of £71.66 million this season. By contrast, the Europa League, in which United will compete if they remain sixth in the Premier League, boasted a pot of just £16.22m.

As illustrated above, failure to secure Champions League football means a considerable shortfall in potential revenue for the Red Devils.

The club will seemingly be able to soften that financial blow, however, through, wage reduction clauses believed to be included in the contracts of many players at Old Trafford.

Per a report from the Daily Mail, club chiefs will now have the ability to slash the salaries of a number of stars by up to 25% next season, as a result of Ralf Rangnick’s side finishing outside of the top four in the Premier League in 2021/22.

In their article, the Daily Mail name Cristiano Ronaldo and David de Gea – the club’s two highest earners – as players who could see their earnings plummet as a result of these clauses.

Shot-stopper De Gea is said to be earning £375,000-a-week at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’. That figure is set to fall to around £281,000-a-week should the full 25% reduction be applied.

Should five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo remain at Old Trafford next season, he will be hit in the pocket to an even greater extent.

According to the Daily Mail’s calculations, the 37-year-old superstar is in line to see his pay diminish from £385,000-a-week to approximately £288,000-a-week.

Should those figures be accurate, it would mark the first time that Ronaldo