While figures at Manchester United insist the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules limit their spending power in the transfer market, external sources maintain the biggest obstacle to Erik ten Hag sufficiently strengthening his squad remains the club's owners.
As mindful as United have to be of financial fair play, multiple sources are adamant they would have more to spend if the Glazer family topped up the club's cash flows, so low it made the announcement of the strategic review in November inevitable.
The Glazers have never invested a single penny into United since they completed their takeover in May 2005. United sources have suggested they have a budget of around £120million, supplemented by any player sales.
That is lower than the de facto £150m budget former managers Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer operated under. Also read: What United board members will decide at the AGM Mourinho felt so constrained by that ceiling he blamed it for United's failure to sign Ivan Perisic in 2017.
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