Manchester United have two new transfer ambitions under Ineos to avoid FFP and PSR concerns

Now, the real business can begin. After an opening to the transfer window dominated by dubious deals, PSR calculations and accountants coining it in, clubs can start to flex whatever muscles they have.

Manchester United avoided the rush to raise cash by June 30, with a series of January loan deals and Alvaro Fernandez’s move to Benfica making sure they were comfortably within their limit on the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR).

The end of the financial year for clubs’ accounts on June 30 essentially wipes the slate clean. It is a boost for those clubs who didn’t have to sell. Every departure from Old Trafford now is a positive on this year’s accounts, while the £150m loss from 2021/22 will also drop off the monitoring period.

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United have experts on PSR in their finance department and having stepped back from the precipice in the first half of 2024, they don’t expect to be in trouble now. The sales of Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho will further enhance their position.

Another reason for the confidence is that, under Ineos, United expect to get better at this sort of stuff. Nobody can look at the transfer business at Old Trafford in recent years and conclude it has been going well. Too often they have sold on the cheap and overspent when buying.

There are two aims for Ineos as they tentatively open the chequebook in their first window. To get better at holding the line and to get better at selling players. Nail both of those ambitions and the books should balance a lot easier.

Look back just over the previous two summers and you will find examples of United being pushed beyond their initial budget for players. Antony, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund were all more expensive than had initially been planned for and none of them have so far delivered a return on that investment. It feels like it’s already too late for Antony to show he’s worth £85m, but time is still on the side of Mount and Hojlund to look like value at £55m and £64m.

United’s striker search looks relatively routine, for now. If they push ahead with plans to sign Joshua Zirkzee then it’s an uncomplicated deal to do thanks to his £34m release clause.

The test will come with defensive reinforcements. Everton continue to demand at least £70m for Jarrad Branthwaite. United had a £43m offer, including £8m of add-ons rejected. This tug of war will tell us plenty about Ineos.

They could yet sign a second centre-back, or could pivot away from Branthwaite to pursue a deal with Bayern Munich for Matthijs de Ligt. That might be an easier deal to do but there is a reason Bayern are keen to sell, just as Juventus were a couple of years ago.

So will the plan be to get better at offloading players. They need to sell to raise funds this summer and Greenwood and Sancho will be a good start, with significant interest in both. It will be more difficult, bordering on the impossible, to sell Donny van de Beek.

Then there are squad players like Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka that could be sold, with decisions to be made on Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay. If those two are to depart it will only be to an offer too enticing to refuse.

But as July dawns, United’s financial position has improved. They had enough spare last week to have signed Branthwaite, only for Everton to avoid the need to sell thanks to some convenient deals involving academy players.

Business will step up over the next week or two, with pre-season resuming at Carrington next Monday. Erik ten Hag will want new players in as early as possible but United will be determined to hold the line, rather than splashing the cash around freely as they have in the last two summers. That almost got them into a mess.