Daniel James has a unique claim to fame in the recent history of Manchester United. He is the only player who has joined the club since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013 and left for a higher transfer fee than it cost to sign him in the first place.
James, signed from Swansea for £15 million in 2019, was moved on to Leeds for £25 million two years later. For United, there is also the jarring reality that the £25.7 million received from Napoli for the transfer of Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay 12 months ago is the biggest fee banked by the club — aside from the loss-making exits of big signings Angel Di Maria and Romelu Lukaku — for over a decade. Di Maria left for Paris Saint-Germain for £44.3 million in 2015, a year after arriving from Real Madrid for £59.7 million. Lukaku, meanwhile, moved to Inter Milan in 2019 for £68 million, having cost United £75 million to bring in from Everton two years earlier.
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With the 2025 summer transfer window now into its final two weeks before the Sept. 1 deadline, United’s repeated shortcomings when it comes to offloading players are once again threatening their ability to reshape their squad. United have consistently stated that players must leave this summer for the club to balance the books and avoid the risk of breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR). But despite spending almost £200 million to being in four new signings Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Diego León, they have raised precisely nothing from outgoings.
Marcus Rashford’s season-long loan move to Barcelona has taken the forward’s £325,000-a-week salary off the United wage bill, and the club have also received a nominal percentage of moves by some of their former players Anthony Elanga (Nottingham Forest to Newcastle) and Álvaro Carreras (Benfica to Real Madrid), but no player has yet left Old Trafford for a fee this summer. Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Tyrell Malacia have been available for months, while United are now also prepared to offload Rasmus Højlund.
In an ideal world, United would hope to raise around £120 million from their departures, but the clock is ticking to the deadline, and clubs who have an interest in those players know United are negotiating from a position of weakness. That £120 million could very quickly become £60 million and once again highlight United as the Premier League’s worst performers when it comes to moving players on. United have suffered for paying high wages to unsuccessful players in the past, with many proving too expensive for new clubs to take on, but it has been a combination of undervaluing homegrown players and losing money on mediocre mid-range signings that has truly defined their transfer outgoings.
The James deal is an embarrassing statistic for a club of United’s stature, but their consistent failure to cash in on unwanted players is perhaps more damning, especially when measured against their rivals. This summer alone, Liverpool have offloaded Luis Díaz to Bayern Munich for a £10 million profit on his £50 million transfer fee when signing from Porto in January 2022, while the Premier League champions have also raised £70 million from the departures of homegrown players Jarell Quansah, Ben Doak, Caoimhín Kelleher and Tyler Morton.
The £10 million received from Real Madrid to enable Trent Alexander-Arnold to make his move to the Bernabeu a month before the end of his Anfield contract was another example of smart financial management by Liverpool. Twelve months earlier, Liverpool raised £40 million by offloading Fábio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg to Brentford — two players who had barely played for Liverpool but were still able to command significant fees.
Manchester City have also left United in their wake in terms of capitalizing on the value of their homegrown players. City have raised £60 million this summer by offloading James McAtee, Yan Couto and Máximo Perrone alone, but Pep Guardiola’s team have consistently been able to make healthy sums in the transfer market. Julián Álvarez’s transfer cost £14 million from River Plate in 2022 and he joined Atletico Madrid for £65 million in 2024. During the same summer window, City banked £20 million from Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ move to Southampton.
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But there are no comparable deals in United’s recent history to suggest that they know how to raise crucial funds from player exits. McTominay was a sensation for Napoli last season, earning a Ballon d’Or nomination after helping the club win the Serie A title, but he was allowed to leave United for only around £25 million, while Liverpool youngster Doak’s move has cost Bournemouth an initial £20 million plus £5 million in add-ons. Elanga left Old Trafford for Forest in 2023 for £20 million, yet this summer he has moved to Newcastle for £55 million. Dean Henderson left United at the same time as Elanga, joining Crystal Palace for an initial £15 million, and the England goalkeeper has since helped the Eagles to FA Cup success while United continue to search for a consistent No. 1.
One source told ESPN that United’s transfer dealings prior to the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group in 2024 were heavily overseen by the Glazer family, the club’s minority owners, and that many outgoings were left to the end of the window when valuations had dropped due to rival clubs being away of United’s need for cash.
“The Glazers kept players too long, extending their contracts because it was cheaper to do that than sign a new player,” the source said. “But when it came to getting rid of them, often with a year left on their contracts, their value had plummeted and the club sometimes couldn’t give players away.
“It was often a case of getting unwanted players out in the final few days of the window, just to get some money in after a spending spree, but they hardly ever got decent value for players on the way out.”
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United’s struggle to raise significant funds for outgoing players is also perhaps a pointer to why the team has failed to compete for the biggest honors since Ferguson stepped down. David de Gea took a year to find a new club after being released by United in 2023, Anthony Martial found no takers in Europe’s major leagues and ended up in Greek football with AEK Athens 12 months ago, while neither Victor Lindelöf or Christian Eriksen have found a new team since becoming free agents at the end of last season. If clubs looking for new players are choosing to avoid those whom United deem to be surplus to requirements, it paints a bleak picture of the standard of the squad that has been assembled over recent years at Old Trafford.
But with director of football Jason Wilcox and director of recruitment Christopher Vivell now firmly established in their roles at United following the turbulent overhaul of staff at all levels of the club over the past 18 months, the challenge facing the two men is clear. They must make United players appealing to rival clubs once again and, at the same time, learn how to cash in as successfully as Liverpool, City and many other Premier League teams.
What happens to Sancho, Garnacho, Malacia, Antony and Højlund between now and Sept. 1 will tell us whether United have cracked the code or continue to trail in their rivals’ wake.
