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EXCLUSIVE: Manchester United will enforce the ‘Ronaldo rule’, which limits wages to a maximum of £200,000 a week, as Erik ten Hag tries to stave off culture of jealousy in the dressing room at Old Trafford.
- Manchester United have introduced a new rule to limit player salaries at the club
- Dubbed the ‘Ronaldo rule’, the club will cap earnings at £200,000 a week
- The Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea will be among the main affected
- Casemiro, Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane will also be affected by the rule
Manchester United have introduced a ‘Ronaldo rule’ to ensure that no one inside the Old Trafford dressing room is paid significantly more than their teammates.
Wages will be capped at £200,000 a week with goalkeeper David de Gea the first to be affected.
His £375,000 a week contract expires in the summer and the Spaniard has received a much lower ‘take it or leave it’ offer which is in line with the contract signed by Bruno Fernandes last season.
Manchester United have introduced a ‘Ronaldo rule’ that will limit player salaries
It will ensure that players on Erik ten Hag’s side do not earn substantially more than their teammates.
United’s new collective pay stance is a radical departure from the Ed Woodward era, when the club was happy to break salary structures to bring in big-brand players like Ronaldo.
Current chief executive Richard Arnold, director of football John Murtough and manager Erik ten Hag want to avoid a culture of jealousy in the dressing room.
Veteran players like Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Casemiro and now Fernandes are all in the same salary bracket (£180,000 to £200,000 a week), with penalties if they don’t qualify for the Champions League. The idea is to have more players paid at that level instead of spending £500,000 a week on individual superstars.
De Gea, who has been at United since 2011, said last week that he was confident talks to stay at the club would end “in a good way” but was left in no doubt that he cannot expect to earn more than the players. in front of him.
Luke Shaw, whose contract expires in 2024, will be offered similar terms to keep things even.
Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea will be one of the first players affected by the new rule
The contracts of defenders Harry Maguire (L) and Raphael Varane (R) will also be affected
However, United will face a bigger challenge in trying to convince England striker Marcus Rashford to re-sign at Old Trafford given that Paris Saint-Germain would be willing to double his money.
Rashford is in fine goalscoring form at the moment, but with his contract also due to expire in 18 months, club bosses are reluctant to bring special cases, as they are aware of how the team spirit has fragmented at the United following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013 and subsequent widening pay discrepancies between teammates.
United’s last annual wage bill was estimated to be £228m, the highest in the Premier League.
They have been able to save £20m a year by terminating Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract, allowing him to join Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, but they still need to be careful not to breach financial fair play regulations.
Ronaldo recently completed his record-breaking move to Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia.