Man Utd CEO: New stadium poses ‘risk’ to team competitiveness

Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada has admitted the club “risk” falling further behind their rivals while they invest in their new stadium.

United announced plans on Tuesday to leave Old Trafford, their home for 115 years, and move into a new 100,000-capacity stadium.

The proposal includes an expected cost of around £2 billion ($2.59 billion), a significant strain on finances which are already stretched after posting losses of more than £300 million ($388.57 million) over the last three years.

Both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur struggled to remain competitive on the pitch while they built new stadiums and Berrada accepts that money available to strengthen the squad may be impacted as the project is being financed.

“That is a risk,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“Clearly it’s something we want to avoid. 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.”

Berrada confirmed that United will not be asking for taxpayer money to fund the stadium, but said the club are actively looking for investors.

The aim is to move into their new home in five years ahead of the 2030-31 season. Work could start before the end of the year, although Berrada said it would be “predicated on planning permission and how quickly the local authority can work.”

The United chief also explained how the club could announce ambitious plans for a new stadium just a day after co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said money would have run out by the end of 2025 without his wide-ranging cost-cutting measures.

“All the plans we’ve been putting in place over the last months really address the short-term issue, which is that the club was losing money,” said Berrada.

“Everything that we’re doing and a lot of these decisions are difficult and we hate to see people losing their jobs.

“Once we stop losing money, we then put ourselves in the best financial position to continue investing in our team and also to allow us to be able to have the ambition to build a new stadium.”

Despite a difficult start to Ruben Amorim’s tenure as head coach, Berrada said he would “love to open the new stadium with Ruben as a coach.”

The club have started work on their recruitment ahead of Amorim’s first summer window.

Berrada said there will be money to spend regardless of whether United qualify for Europe next season, but insisted players will not be signed solely to play in the Portuguese coach’s 3-4-3 system.

“When it comes to our recruitment strategy without commenting too much, but the idea we have is to be able to bring in versatile players that can be adaptable to multiple systems,” said Berrada.

“And ultimately Ruben himself has said it, it’s not about the 3-4-3 tactical formation, it’s about an idea, a concept of how he wants to see the team playing. He wants to see the team playing more on the front foot, more of a possession, attacking-based style of football.

“So for that, you need players that can play in multiple positions that can adapt to that vision that Ruben has. And this is what we’re going to try to do over the next years in our recruitment.”