Manchester United on course for £22.4m loss that even Europa League glory cannot mask

'Thursday' has been the clear message from Manchester United players in recent weeks as their Premier League form continued to tumble.

To their credit, the squad managed to turn up for the Europa League, and now just one match separates Ruben Amorim's side from an undeserving place in next season's Champions League, if Premier League form was anything to go by. Unfortunately, the United players did not have that excuse to hide behind on Sunday as they slipped to their 17th defeat of the season.

West Ham were in as rotten form as United, but Graham Potter managed to mastermind a victory over Amorim's team in a game which the hosts dominated on every statistic bar the one that matters. Just Chelsea stand in United's way now before that season-defining clash with Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao.

A victory over Spurs and United could count the season's objective as being completed. Lose, and there is nowhere to hide.

Regardless of the result in the Basque Country, one matter that can't be hidden by Europa League glory is the substantial prize money loss that United will take from their league position. The exact figures for 2024/25 have not been confirmed yet, the Premier League often makes these figures public knowledge at the end of the campaign.

However, they are likely to be similar to last season, which saw each position earn £2.8m more than the position below them. After a disappointing campaign that saw United finish eighth, they bagged a respectable £36.4m.

If they finish 16th, which they occupy at the time of writing, they will manage to earn just £14m. This is a £22.4m loss from the season before.

Winning the Europa League would manage to bag United roughly an extra £10.95m but that still would not cover the shortfall