March 12 – How do you spend a fortune on a new ground whilst at the same time investing another fortune on new players? Answer: you can’t.
Which is bound to be the danger for Manchester United after they officially unveiled plans to construct a 100,000-capacity, state-of-the-art stadium, which would replace their historic 115-year-old Old Trafford home.
Man United CEO Omar Berrada admitted as much by conceding the new £2 billion stadium could impact spending on the squad and affect competitiveness for the next five years – not great news for a team languishing in 14th place in the Premier League
“That is a risk. Clearly, it’s something we want to avoid,” Berrada told reporters on Tuesday at the unveiling of conceptual images of the new stadium.
“We don’t want to inhibit our ability to invest in the team, for us to continue being competitive while we are building a new stadium.”
United’s hierarchy sees it as a necessary step towards modernisation and financial sustainability and Berrada said that the club would make every effort to remain competitive over the period required to build the new ground, which will be the biggest in Britain, next to the existing Old Trafford.
“There are various ways around that; one of the things we are looking at is to shorten the construction timelines so we can have a new stadium within five years, that’s our ambition.”
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