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By Izuchukwu Okosi
Manchester United has made public their financial results for the year 2021 with its wage bill rising to 25 percent following the re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portugal international whose national team would have to make do with the playoffs in a bid to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after suffering the ignominy of a 2-1 defeat to Serbia on Sunday night rejoined his former side in September after a stint in Juventus where he won two Serie A titles and a Coppa Italia.
Ronaldo’s comeback after 12 years of playing at Real Madrid and Juve has come at a cost although it also bore good tidings as the marketing department of the club has had good tale to tell business wise.
Ronaldo is currently the highest earner at the club with a weekly wages of £550,000. That eye watering salary in addition to the addition of Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Tom Heaton ensured that almost £1.3million is the new wage bill at Old Trafford.
According to the financial report made available to the English media, wages for the three months leading up to September 30 which was when the transfer window came to an end rocketed to £88.5m, a rise of £16.6m and a 23.1 per cent increase on the prior yearly-quarter.
Understandably Ronaldo accounted for the majority of the hike because of his club record salary.
This rise interestingly helped operating losses decrease from £27.1m to £10.2m compared to 2020-21.
The report stated that commercial revenues rose by 7.9 per cent to £64.4m. This will partially have been driven by the arrival of Ronaldo, although the Portuguese was only back at the club for the final month of the quarter.
The club’s net debt stood at £439.7m on September 30, down slightly from £440.6m the previous year.
Matchday revenue was £18.8m compared to just £1.7m the previous year, when games were played behind closed doors.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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