In a summer where the two biggest clubs in the world, Barcelona and Real Madrid have both spent over €80 million on a signing a top player, Manchester United owners have announced plans to raid the Premier League side for another $150 million.
On Wednesday, United announced that the Glazer family is selling 8 million shares with reduced voting rights, which is about 5% of the club. The Glazers had previously sold 10% of their holding via a stock listing in 2012.
Instead to that money being invested in the playing staff, it will instead line the pockets of the Glazer family.
In putting the shares up for sale, United’s owners disclosed that failure to play in the Champions League for two or more consecutive seasons would see the annual Adidas payments drop after the first year by 30 percent to $89 million. Conversely, the fee could rise by up to $7 million each year if the team wins the Premier League, Champions League or FA Cup. I guess that puts more than a little pressure on Louis van Gaal to finish in the top four.
United also said that success on the pitch is key to “the value and strength of our brand and reputation,” with a global array of sponsorship deals helping the club generate an estimated revenue of around $727 million for the year to June 30, 2014.
Claiming to have 659 million followers around the world has helped to drive up turnover in recent years, but United has conceded that “our popularity in certain countries or regions may depend, at least in part, on fielding certain players from those countries or regions.”