The true value of every Man Utd player – and seven they should sell

Manchester United have got themselves in a right old mess.

They spent around £200m in the summer only to sack Erik ten Hag three months later and, combined with spiralling spending elsewhere over the years, currently have very little budget to bring in the players new manager Ruben Amorim wants.

They are not thought to be at risk of breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules, but the limitations mean they also can’t spend much on players in this window or the next, unless they sell.

Yet while their squad is nowhere near good enough to be competing for Premier League titles and in the Champions League, there is plenty there to generate a substantial transfer budget.

The i Paper has consulted with transfer expert Paul Macdonald, one of the founders of Estimated Transfer Value – a platform used by professional clubs for realistic valuations of players – to find out how much United’s squad is worth and who is worth selling.

Forwards

Marcus Rashford

Value: £71.8m
Contract expires: June 2028
Age: 27
Sell or keep? A loan deal appears the most likely option in January, but if United agree a sizeable obligation-to-buy clause it will help with financial planning and give them plenty of room to manoeuvre. Any fee will be “pure profit” and can, essentially, be multiplied by five in terms of value, due to amortisation rules.

While they may not get the £70m, even half that would be significant. “His value here may seem high considering he barely features, but he is on a longer contract and still has some credit in the bank for what he’s done in the past,” Macdonald explains.

Alejandro Garnacho

Value: £60.6m
Contract expires: June 2028
Age: 20
Sell or keep? A really tough one, but, all things considered, it makes sense to sell. He will command a big fee and free up funds and space for Amorim’s preferred forward signing: Viktor Gyokeres.

Antony

Value: £21.4m
Contract expires: June 2027
Age: 24
Sell or keep? Get rid. He has been an abysmal signing. “They would be lucky to get £20m for him,” Macdonald says. But any money in the pot will be worth it for a player they don’t need.

Joshua Zirkzee

Value: £40.1m
Contract expires: June 2029
Age: 23
Sell or keep? “I think United don’t want to give up on him just yet,” Macdonald says. And it feels too early to make a definitive conclusion on the forward, even though he has failed to settle since a summer move.

Rasmus Hojlund

Value: £59.1
Contract expires: June 2028
Age: 21
Sell or keep? Hasn’t yet been as prolific as hoped, but with Rashford on his way out they can’t afford to sell Hojlund as well, his contract has plenty to run and there’s still a huge deal of potential in there.

Amad Diallo

Value: £29.4m
Contract expires: June 2030
Age: 22
Sell or keep? Keep. Keep. Keep. Keep. And agreeing an entirely new contract, rather than triggering the one-year option on his existing deal which was up in the summer, shows he is going nowhere. Expect his value to rise exponential if he continues on the same trajectory. Can thrive under Amorim. Has the potential to be a phenomenal long-term player for them.

Midfielders

Kobbie Mainoo

Value: £60.3m
Contract expires: June 2027
Age: 19
Sell or keep? Again: Keep. Keep. Keep. Keep. There will be no need to sell academy products Garnacho and Mainoo, and of the two the latter is most worth keeping.

“This could be the type of fee that United would command for Mainoo even though they would want more,” Macdonald says. “His contract is out in two years in the summer, which brings that value down a touch.” If he signs a new one, as expected, it will increase.

Casemiro

Value: £10.6m
Contract expires: June 2026
Age: 32
Sell or keep? Saudi Arabia has emerged as the mostly likely route for Casemiro. He wouldn’t recoup a lot in transfer fee, due to his age and entering the final year of his contract in the summer, but every little helps. And getting his £300,000 per week wages off the books would give them lots of flexibility to sign new recruits.

Bruno Fernandes

Value: £46m
Contract expires: June 2027
Age: 30
Sell or keep? Simply too important to Manchester United to sell.

Christian Eriksen

Value: £2m
Contract expires: June 2025
Age: 32
Sell or keep? Expected to leave for free in the summer.

Mason Mount

Value: £35m
Contract expires: June 2028
Age: 25
Sell or keep? “Could be a player cashed in,” Macdonald says. It hasn’t worked at United, although injury has played a large part in that. But Amorim is a big fan and believes Mount can fit perfectly into his systems, so probably one to keep, for now at least.

Manuel Ugarte

Value: £56.9m
Contract expires: June 2029
Age: 23
Sell or keep? Some at Paris Saint-Germain felt United overpaid for Ugarte, at £42m, but he’s made a solid start and they’d never offload so early into his contract.

Toby Collyer

Value: £9.5m
Contract expires: June 2027
Age: 21
Sell or keep? Played three times for the first team this season but might be worth getting a little money for a player way down the pecking order and not the youngest anymore.

Defenders

Harry Maguire

Value: £11.3m
Contract expires: June 2026
Age: 31
Sell or keep? Having just signed a one-year contract extension, they’ll be keeping Maguire.

Matthijs de Ligt

Value: £44.9m
Contract expires: Jun 2029
Age: 25
Sell or keep? This felt like such an odd signing when he joined from Bayern Munich for £38.5m in the summer. The fee was almost half of what Bayern paid for him two years before that. But, until Leny Yoro is ready United need to keep him.

Lisandro Martinez

Value: £54.7m
Contract expires: June 2027
Age: 26
Sell or keep? His contract will be drifting into final-two-years territory in the summer and Martinez is one they want to tie down.

Leny Yoro

Value: £59m
Contract expires: June 2029
Age: 19
Sell or keep? “Despite his injury-ridden start our algorithm really likes Yoro,” Macdonald says. “The more he plays, the more his value will mature.” There’s every suggestion Yoro can become a megastar, if he can live up to the hype.

Victor Lindelof

Value: £12.5m
Contract expires: June 2025
Age: 30
Sell or keep? “Will likely see out his contract now and go for free,” Macdonald says.

Jonny Evans

Value: £0.8m
Contract expires: June 2025
Age: 37
Sell or keep? His value extends far beyond his estimated transfer fee.

Noussair Mazraoui

Value: £37.4m
Contract expires: June 2028
Age: 27
Sell or keep? Looks a rare, good-value find for United. Unwanted by Bayern Munich and signed for only £12.8m, he is already worth almost four times that. And has shown early signs of fitting well into Amorim’s approach. A keeper.

Luke Shaw

Value: £17.8m

Contract expires: June 2027
Age: 29
Sell or keep? It is worth United actively trying to sell Shaw while he still possibly retains some value. Sustained injuries have been ruinous for his career but they might find a buyer willing to take a risk at that price, although Macdonald is not so sure. “I think United would be very lucky to get anything for Shaw at this stage.”

Diogo Dalot

Value: £41.4m
Contract expires: June 2028
Age: 25
Sell or keep? Dalot is one that makes sense to sell – with his age profile, contract length and experience he would command decent value, yet is not important enough to warrant keeping. Has been a regular for United but he could be one let go to make room for players more in Amorim’s mould. He just seems to lack consistency.

Tyrell Malacia

Value: £14.4m
Contract expires: June 2026
Age: 25
Sell or keep? His contract will soon only have a year left to run, which drives his value down. This time next year clubs outside England can agree a deal to sign him for free. Definitely sell, if they can. “Barely been seen,” Macdonald says. “If they could get something back, I think they would.”

Goalkeepers

Andre Onana

Value: £38.5m
Contract expires: June 28
Age: 28
Sell or keep? No other option but to keep.

Altay Bayindir

Value: £11.2m
Contract expires: June 28
Age: 26
Sell or keep? “I think United have been looking to offload him since his gaffes in the Cup against Tottenham,” Macdonald says. “But they shouldn’t be expecting much more than this value for him.” They’d need to find another backup if he is sold and, until that has been lined up, worth keeping.

Tom Heaton

Value: £0.16m
Contract expires: June 2025
Age: 38
Sell or keep? Practically worthless, in football monetary terms.

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