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Amorim to be handed less than £100m to shake up United as shares slump

STILL MY MAN: Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim (left) shake hands with Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe following defeat in the UEFA Europa League final at the Estadio de San Mames in Bilbao, Spain. Pic: PA Wire

Ruben Amorim has a summer transfer budget of a little less than £100m and retains Manchester United’s firm backing despite Wednesday’s Europa League final defeat by Tottenham.

As the Guardian previously reported, the executive’s belief in Amorim was not going to be affected by the result at San Mamés in Bilbao. The football department, headed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, wants the Portuguese to have a first pre-season with his team and to strengthen the squad.

Wolves’ Matheus Cunha, Ipswich’s No 9 Liam Delap and a playmaker remain Amorim’s prime targets and the club do not have to sell to buy either. This is because of the cuts made by Ratcliffe, which include a latest round of redundancies that when executed will take the total number of job losses to about 450.

Delap’s price is £30m but his potential signing remains in the balance because he is also of interest to Newcastle and Chelsea. A deal to buy Cunha, whose release clause is £62.5m, is thought to be closer.

United shares have slumped after the club was defeated in the final of Europe’s second-tier tournament, which will ultimately lead to £100m in lost revenues.

United lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in the Uefa Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday night, dealing a further blow to its billionaire owners, the Glazer family and Ratcliffe. It means the club has failed to qualify for next season’s lucrative Uefa Champions League, Europe’s top-tier football competition.

Manchester United shares fell by nearly 8% in early trading on Thursday, their steepest drop in more than eight months, but later pared back losses to 6.7%. The stock, which has lost about a fifth of its value this year, had hit its highest level in 11 weeks hours before the game.

Shareholders will be hugely disappointed that the Premier League club has missed out on the lucrative place in next season’s Champions League. Participation leads to earnings from tickets, broadcast money, and sponsor bonuses estimated at more than £100m.

The defeat means United will not play in European competition at all next season, which will damage the club’s revenues and profits for 2025-26 as a rebuild of its squad gets under way. It also plans to build a new £2bn, 100,000-seat stadium that would be the largest in the UK.

United’s former first-team coach René Meulensteen had called it a “crossroads moment” after “the most disastrous season”. The club is languishing in 16th place in the Premier League, just above Spurs, and is heading for its lowest finish in the table in 50 years.

Following the 2005 takeover by the Glazers, the majority owners, United is more than £1bn in debt, leading to hefty interest payments every year. The club reported a loss of £113m last year (compared with £26m for Spurs), which took United’s total pre-tax losses to £300m over the past three years.

It has taken tough actions such as cutting jobs, increasing members’ match-day ticket prices to £66 with no reductions for seniors or children, raising parking charges for disabled fans and scrapping the steward-of-the-match £50 award.

The minority owner Ratcliffe decided in February to cut about 200 more jobs to help the club avoid going bust.

In November, United predicted a profit of £145m-£160m, measured by Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), for the financial year ending 30 June 2025. It forecast annual revenue of £650m-£670m from commercial, broadcasting and match-day sources, including new and renewed sponsorships.

The Guardian