Manchester United have FFP magic number which could make or break Antony sale

Manchester United are prepared to listen to offers for Antony this summer, but the likely reality is that none of them will be acceptable. Not because it doesn't meet their valuation, but because it's unlikely to reach a minimum acceptable figure for the Brazilian.

The magic number is around £52million. That is the fee still to pay on United's books as a result of amortisation. Having signed him for roughly £86million (at exchange rates at the time), that cost is divided by his contract length of five years, so in the books only around £34.4million has been offset so far.

If United were to accept an offer of, say, £30million this summer, that money might look good in their account, but when it comes to their accounts and how FFP judge them, it would go down as a £22million loss. Essentially, selling Antony for that fee would actually reduce their transfer budget rather than boost it.

ALSO READ: United signed four players in one day and the most successful was least expected

ALSO READ: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals the three superstars he regrets missing out on United

That's why parting ways with the winger this summer is far from straightforward, even if his spell at Old Trafford is turning out to be a nightmare one. After 28 appearances this season, he still has just one goal and one assist to his name, both registered in the same game against League Two Newport County.

The 24-year-old has struggled to impact Premier League games of late and he hasn't started a game in that competition since December 30, when he left the field at the City Ground to chants of "what a waste of money". It's hard to disagree with that assessment and when he returned to Forest for a start in the FA Cup last week, he was anonymous.

In