Manchester United could be about to be reminded of their £89m transfer problem

Having signed Matheus Cunha for £62.5million and facing the prospect of paying a similar fee for Bryan Mbeumo, Manchester United's summer spending might soon smash its way through the £200m mark.

That is because United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, back in March, revealed the club would be forced to cough up £89m in transfer fees this summer before even thinking about new additions.

It is not uncommon nowadays for clubs to spread out the costs of new signings and pay for them in instalments over several years, meaning United will be paying for players recruited in previous summers this summer.

"If you look at the players that we will buy this summer that we did not buy, in other words, we're paying for, that it is, we're buying Antony this summer," Ratcliffe told Gary Neville in an interview for Sky.

"We're buying [Jadon] Sancho this summer, we're buying [Rasmus] Hojlund, we're buying Casemiro, we're buying [Andre] Onana.

"It's not a light switch. In your day [Neville's], you bought a player and that was it. I know that the bill we will pay this summer is £89m for players that have been signed previously. If we buy no players, we write a cheque for £89m this summer."

Having rejected United's opening offer of £55m for Mbeumo, it is understood Brentford are holding out for a similar fee to the one Wolves banked for Cunha. Talks between United and Brentford remain ongoing and there is a growing belief an agreement will eventually be reached.

The likelihood is, though, that United will have to pay a fee in the region of £60m to extract the Cameroonian from the Gtech Community Stadium, meaning the deal, taking into account the £89m owed elsewhere, could take United's spending to just north of £210m.

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