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

Manchester United are waiting for their first league title since 2013, but there’s another crown they currently have – not that fans will be pleased.

Transfer prices have skyrocketed in recent years to the point where it is commonplace to see £100million-plus deals conducted on a yearly basis.

As one of the richest clubs in the world, United have signed some of the biggest players around – but also for the biggest fees.

However, getting them out of the door has often proved borderline impossible, with many either leaving on a free transfer or for shockingly low fees.

That has certainly been the case with Donny van de Beek, who United have taken a massive £35m hit when he joined Girona.

But while the midfielder will now be regarded as a major flop at Old Trafford, he is certainly not the worst signing.

Paul Pogba joined United for a world-record fee in 2016 when he signed from Juventus for £89m but ended up leaving the club just six years later for nothing.

The Frenchman made 226 appearances for the Red Devils but never truly showed his talent with injuries affecting his last couple of years.

Romelu Lukaku signed for United in 2017 for an initial £75m, plus £15m in add-ons which were paid in the end, from Everton but lasted just two seasons – though they managed to recoup plenty of their fee with a £73m sale to Inter Milan.

However, using that money two years later, Jadon Sancho was signed from Borussia Dortmund for £73m but could well be on his way out for a fraction of that fee after spending the latter half of last season on loan at his old club.

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United signed several players for big fees over the last 10 years who went on to leave for loose change or nothing including Fred, Juan Mata, Eric Bailly and Nemanja Matic.

A study from the CIES Football Observatory found that United are the club with the single biggest negative balance over the last ten years.

CIES looked at the 100 most active clubs since 2014 in the transfer window to find their net transfer spending – incoming signings minus outgoings.

The study found that United have had a net spend of negative £1.18billion with Pogba, Antony and Harry Maguire their most expensive transfers ever included.

Erik ten Hag‘s first summer in charge saw a huge transfer spend with Antony, Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez for near £200m in total.

Meanwhile, their biggest sale that year was James Garner to Everton, leaving for £15m – which actually constituted a decent deal in the grand scheme of outgoings at Old Trafford.

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

In the last 10 years, they paid big fees for Lukaku, Angel di Maria (£44m) and Daniel James (£25m), but only the latter made the club a profit.

The biggest sale for United came thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo, when he joined Real Madrid for a world-record £80m, but this happened in 2009.

One of the first tasks the new regime will work on is reducing the wage bill before turning to the transfer window with sporting director Dan Ashworth set to find United some gems rather than splashing out big money on signings.

The last decade at Old Trafford has been financially reckless and fraught with poorly made decisions – Sir Jim Ratcliffe must make the next decade different.

And fix that leaky roof, too.