Man United have largest negative transfer spend of any club with more than £1bn spent on Antony, Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho

Manchester United has been waiting for its first league title since 2013, but now another crown is in the pipeline – which is unlikely to please the fans.

Transfer prices have skyrocketed in recent years to the point where it is no longer uncommon for deals worth over £100 million to be made each year.

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As one of the richest clubs in the world, United has signed some of the greatest players ever – but also for the highest transfer fees.

However, it often proved almost impossible to get rid of them and many left the club either for free or for a shockingly low transfer fee.

This was certainly the case with Donny van de Beek, who suffered a whopping £35 million loss when he moved to Girona.

Even though the midfielder is now considered a major flop at Old Trafford, he is certainly not the worst new signing.

Paul Pogba joined United from Juventus in 2016 for a world record fee of £89 million, but left the club for nothing just six years later.

The Frenchman made 226 appearances for the Red Devils, but was never able to fully demonstrate his talent as his final years were marked by injuries.

Romelu Lukaku signed for United in 2017 for an initial fee of £75m plus £15m in add-ons from Everton, but only stayed for two seasons – although they managed to recoup much of their transfer fee by selling him to Inter Milan for £73m.

However, that money was used to sign Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund for £73 million two years later, but he could leave for a fraction of that amount after spending the second half of last season on loan at his old club.

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United have signed several players for big transfer fees over the last decade who have later left the club for pennies or nothing, including Fred, Juan Mata, Eric Bailly and Nemanja Matic.

According to a study by the CIES Football Observatory, United is the club with the worst record of the last ten years.

CIES examined the 100 most active clubs in the transfer window since 2014 to determine their net transfer spending (new arrivals minus departures).

The study found that United posted a net loss of minus £1.18 billion, with Pogba, Antony and Harry Maguire including their most expensive transfers ever.

In his first summer as manager, Erik ten Hag paid huge sums in transfers totaling almost £200 million for Antony, Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez.

Their biggest sale this year was James Garner’s move to Everton for £15 million – which was actually a decent deal considering the departures at Old Trafford.

This is because United have struggled to sell players over the years, which also contributes to the negative net transfer spend.

Over the last decade they have paid huge transfer fees for Lukaku, Angel di Maria (£44m) and Daniel James (£25m), but only the latter has made a profit for the club.

United’s biggest sale was Cristiano Ronaldo, who moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee of £80 million. However, that was in 2009.

One of the new regime’s first tasks will be to reduce the wage bill before the transfer window opens, with sporting director Dan Ashworth looking to find a few gems for United rather than spend huge sums on new signings.

The last decade at Old Trafford was financially reckless and full of poor decisions – Sir Jim Ratcliffe must ensure the next decade is different.

And fix the leaky roof too.