Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s brand new contract will see five Manchester United stars unintentionally break a rule created by Sir Alex Ferguson – but it’s an improvement on the previous nine.
Solskjaer has been earning around £7.5million a year at Manchester United, which is less than such stars as Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandes.
But the Red Devils manager will move ahead of the aforementioned names when he pens his new contract worth around £10million per season.
United players and staff earn considerably more than they did back when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge.
But, interestingly, the Scot was still at the helm when player power began to rear its head.
(Image: Getty Images)
And it was during negotiations with Wayne Rooney back in 2010 that Ferguson made a rule at Old Trafford.
“I told them I did not think it fair that Rooney should earn twice what I made,” Ferguson revealed in a book in 2015. “[United co-chairman] Joel Glazer said: ‘I totally agree but what should we do?’
“It was simple. We just agreed no player should be paid more than me.”
Of course, things have drastically changed since Ferguson stepped down in 2013.
Manchester United splashed £89million on Paul Pogba while Neymar moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for £189million.
But Solskjaer’s bumper new deal means there will only be five players ahead of him in the financial pecking order going forward, instead of the previous nine.
(Image: PA)
The five players are Marcus Rashford, Edinson Cavani, Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba and David de Gea.
Rashford earns around £200,000-a-week, which equates to £10.4million a year while Cavani makes £210,000-a-week and Martial £250,000-a-week, equating to £10.9million and £13million respectively.
Pogba is United’s second-highest earner and brings home £290,000-a-week or £15million a year, while De Gea earns a huge £375,000-a-week, equating to £19.5million each season.
