Chronicle Editor
MANCHESTER UNITED are losing £365 000 a week on wages for unwanted players in their bloated squad.
They enter the final day of the transfer window having been unable to get rid of Phil Jones, Jesse Lingard, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling — or even third choice goalkeeper Sergio Romero.
Only Smalling — on £90 000 a week — looked close to getting a move away from Old Trafford after a successful season on loan at Roma.
The Serie A club wanted him permanently but are refusing to meet United’s £16 million asking price having offered £12m. There have been no other offers for the other United players, none of whom are likely to figure in anything but the domestic cups.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has not even left the door open for Smalling to rejoin the first choice back four despite the woes of Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire.
At 28, Jones should be in the prime of his career. Yet he always seems to be injured and when he is fit Solskjaer does not trust to play him.
Which makes it all the more bizarre that he was given a new contract of £75 000 a week in February of last year to keep him at the club until 2023.
Nice work if you can get it.
That being said, he couldn’t have done much worse than Eric Bailly and Harry Maguire in Sunday’s 6-1 humbling at the hands of Spurs.
Lingard’s fall from grace has seen him play in only the two Carabao Cup games this season and then it was only for nine minutes against Brighton last week. He is sitting on a £100 000-a-week contract that still has a year to run. Romero on £50 000 a week is now third choice goalkeeper since Dean Henderson returned.
Rojo on £50 000 a week is still around having played just nine times for United last season. He was loaned out to Estudiantes in January for the rest of the season but played only once.
At least they managed to get Diogo Dalot’s £50 000 a week off the wage bill, although not permanently, as he left Manchester to join AC Milan on a season’s long loan.
Andreas Pereira’s £55 000 a week is now also being picked up by a Serie A side after he joined Lazio on loan for the rest of the campaign last week. – The Sun
Online Reporter