Manchester United top of the table for transfer losses after €1billion net spend

The last decade has not been kind to Manchester United.

With Sir Alex Ferguson retiring from management in 2013, the club’s stranglehold on the Premier League has been well and truly lifted, and they’ve seen some of their biggest rivals overtake them in the years since.

United are closing in on 10 years without a league title, while the subsequent years since Ferguson called time on his career have yielded just five pieces of silverware, including two Community Shields.

It’s also been a nightmare when it comes to signings, with a huge sum of money spent on new arrivals who have then turned out to be major flops for the club.

And nothing quite underlines their failures on and off the pitch like their total net spend over the last 10 years.

The CIES Football Observatory has put together the net spending on transfers from every club in Europe’s top five league, with United topping the charts with a negative balance of more than €1billion – the only club across the continent to exceed that mark.

United have spent around €1.545billion since 2012 on signings, while they have made just €470million back on selling players.

That figure is not helped by a number of transfer flops over the years that have cost the club a large amount, and it’s not set to get any better, with record signing Paul Pogba looking likely to leave the club for a second time for free this summer.

Manchester City aren’t too far behind United, with a net spend of -€984million, having spent €1.699million on signings and made back €715million on departures.

Paris Saint-Germain (-€941million), Barcelona (-€650million) and Arsenal (-€583million) make up the rest of the top five, while there is just one Premier League side that have made a profit over the