Man United shelled out an incredible amount of money in 2021/22, topping the table for most money paid to injured players last season.
The Red Devils endured a horrible campaign. In a season rife with controversy, United’s lowest-ever points total in a Premier League season earned them a disappointing sixth place, despite some heroics from Cristiano Ronaldo and David de Gea.
As a result, they will miss out on Champions League football in 2022/23 – making summer transfers to improve the squad more difficult. At the time of writing, new manager Erik ten Hag is yet to complete a signing.
Undoubtedly, injuries to several players had a profound effect on United’s difficult season. To add insult to injury, hurt players also had quite the impact on club finances.
Injured Man United players cost a lot
Premier Injuries, a site that collates and analyses injury data from Premier League sides, produced the data graph. Their research found that Manchester United spent the most money on injured players’ wages. Staggeringly, the Old Trafford side paid out £25.7 million to players on the treatment table.
Additionally, they had four of the top five most expensive injured footballers from last year. These were the French trio Paul Pogba, Raphael Varane, and Anthony Martial. Also on the list was forward Edinson Cavani.
Cavani missed 25 matches due to injury, leading the Red Devils in total absences. Soon-to-be Juventus midfielder Pogba followed in second, missing 19.
Just behind his compatriot, Varane spent 17 matches on the sidelines. Finally, despite being on loan at Sevilla for half the season, Martial still missed six games for the Red Devils.
Considering that United have the third-highest wage bill in the league (as per Marca), the sheer volume of injuries sustained by the team meant that they comfortably finished top of this list.
However, other sides also had to pay large sums to hurt players.
The true cost of injuries
Second on the Premier Injuries list is Chelsea. Surprisingly, they were the only other side to give out over £15 million to individuals on the sidelines. The Blues also had the costliest injury of last season, as they paid Ben Chilwell £4.9 million during his recovery from a serious knee injury.
Only three other teams had an injury bill that breached the £10 million mark. Everton were in third, with Liverpool and champions Manchester City rounding out the top five.
In contrast, Brentford were at the bottom of the table. This is understandable, given that the London side has the smallest wage bill in the Premier League. Overall, the total cost of hurt players to Premier League sides was nearly £160 million.
With Pogba and Cavani set to leave Old Trafford this summer, and Martial potentially joining them, United will hope that they are not the highest spenders in this department come next season. Instead, fans expect Erik ten Hag to lead the Red Devils back to the top of the Premier League table.
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