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#3: Inter Milan – €461m
It is to Antonio Conte's club Inter Milan that we move to next. Inter Milan are a football club in this list that have been in debt long before the current pandemic-induced recession hit the game.
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Italian football has a combined debt of €4 billion, of which Inter's share is €464 million. Last season's Serie A runners-up are still paying off loans taken in the past to fund huge spending sprees that also brought success.
Inter, currently owned by the Suning Group who have pumped in a lot of money, finished second to Juventus in the Serie A and lost in the Europa League final to Sevilla.
The Nerazzurri, who are the 15th-most valuable football club in the world according to Forbes, are also working with local rivals AC Milan to build a new San Siro. A return to the Champions League earned last season will help the club's finances, but there is still a long way to go.
#2: Tottenham Hotspur – €483m
Another football club with a state-of-the-art new stadium have a huge debt to pay off.
The Tottenham Hotspur stadium is one of the best modern stadiums in England if not the best, but it has come at a steep price for the London football club. Reportedly, the club borrowed £637 million from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and HSBC and continue to reel under that debt.
The stadium name has yet to find a sponsor, and the long-term revenue generation plans from it will take some time to reach fruition.
The London-based football club bought Tanguy Ndombele for a huge fee last season. But their biggest signing this transfer window has been that of Giovanni Lo Celso while they let go of Kyle Walker-Peters to Southampton and Jan Vertongen for a free. Rumour has it that Serge Aurier could also be offloaded by the football club who also suffer from an inflated wage bill, with Harry Kane being the top earner.
#1: Manchester United – €568m
Manchester United are the third-most valuable football club in the world, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. But they are also the club with the most debt in the world right now, with them being in the the red for over €500 million! As paradoxical as that sounds, it is the strange truth of the current business of football.
United, despite spending millions in the transfer market to rope in players like Angel Di Maria (under Louis Van Gaal) and Bruno Fernandes (last season) in the period following Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in a vain attempt to reclaim the glory days, have been consistently in debt since the Glazer family took over the club in 2005.
The Glazers carried their own loans into the club's finances in what is termed as a leveraged buyout. The Red Devils had been debt-free before the takeover happened. The Glazers had refinanced part of this debt, bringing the overall amount down, but it still exists like a sore thumb over which numerous fan protests have erupted over the years.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's club have finally returned to the Champions League, which will definitely enhance their revenue. But with Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba and Co. still a work in progress as a team, silverware, especially the Premier League trophy, look tough to claim during the upcoming season.
