Manchester United, Barcelona fined for FFP breaches

UEFA has fined each of Manchester United and Barcelona for recent breaches of financial fair play.

The governing body has been assessing the accounts of its member between 2019 and 2022, periods that were heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nevertheless, it has chosen to enforce its regulations, with United receiving a fine of €300,000 (£257,000).

Barcelona have been fined more severely and have been told to pay €500,000 (£428,000) courtesy of failing to follow the guidelines.

In both instances, UEFA acknowledges each infringement "to be a minor technical breach of its previous Financial Fair Play rules."

United, who have stated to being left "disappointed" by the decision, have explained that the breach "reflected a change in the way that Uefa adjusted for Covid-19 losses during the 2022 reporting period, which allowed us to recognise only 15m euros of the 281m euros of revenues lost due to the pandemic within the FFP calculation."

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In Barcelona's case, the La Liga champions were said to have 'wrongly reported profits on disposal of intangible assets (other than player transfers) which are not a relevant income under the regulations'.

Since the end of the season, it has been well documented that United are intent on staying within FFP regulations during the summer, despite the need to invest in their squad.

Reports have indicated that United have a £120m budget, nearly half of that having been spent on Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount and an alleged £47m being due to be shelled out for Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana.

That will effectively leave Erik ten Hag needing player sales to be made in order to afford the level of centre-forward that he wishes to attract to Old Trafford.

As for Barcelona, their books have been under constant scrutiny for the past two years, and Xavi has been restricted to the free transfers of Inigo Martinez and Ilkay Gundogan so far this summer.