Manchester United had planned to reach the Champions League quarter-finals but finished bottom of their group after losing to Bayern Munich
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Manchester United have been left counting the cost of their latest disappointment after being knocked out of European competition much sooner than expected.
Although they had budgeted for reaching the Champions League quarter-finals this season, United took just four points from six games to finish bottom of their group.
According to The Mirror, this failure has left the club with a £28 million shortfall in its finances from lost prize money, matchday and broadcast revenue. A 1-0 defeat at home to Bayern Munich on Tuesday sealed United's fate, with Kingsley Coman grabbing the winner midway through the second half.
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Harry Kane set up the decisive goal, offering an unwelcome reminder of the quality that Erik ten Hag's side have so often lacked in the final third.
The England captain was Ten Hag's prime target during the summer transfer window but they withdrew from the race to sign him amid concern at the overall cost of the deal. Young Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund arrived from Atalanta instead and has shown promise but still looks raw and is yet to score his first Premier League goal.
Despite scoring an impressive five times in Europe, he couldn't find a breakthrough against Bayern, who had already sealed top spot in the group.
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United needed to win to stand any chance of progressing but defeat left them rooted to the bottom as FC Copenhagen pipped Galatasaray to second. After missing out on the safety net of the Europa League, which could have softened the blow somewhat and offered an alternative route to next season's Champions League, their situation looks bleak.
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United have now lost more than half of their games across all competitions and desperately need to find some consistency over the coming weeks.
Ten Hag has yet to implement a defined playing style on his team and rumours of dressing room unrest have resurfaced during this latest slump.
Sean Cole is a freelance journalist. He has written for FourFourTwo, BBC Sport and When Saturday Comes among others. A Birmingham City supporter and staunch Nikola Zigic advocate, he once scored a hat-trick at St. Andrew’s (in a half-time game). He also has far too many football shirts and spends far too much time reading the Wikipedia pages of obscure players.
