This stat shows why Paul Pogba’s transfer fee won’t worry Manchester United

Yes, we know that £100m is a lot of money.

But does Jose Mourinho care? No. Not one bit.

If you believe what you read, Jose has got his man. Paul Pogba is inching towards a Manchester United return. Price aside, it’s a hell of a signing for United, especially given that they won’t be able to offer the Frenchman Champions League football in the season ahead.

Ultimately though, much of the talk surrounding this transfer will be about how much it’s cost United – especially with it breaking the world transfer record in the process.

The fact that they’re preparing to stump up such a huge amount for a player that left them for nothing only four years ago has already amused many rival fans, but at least United supporters can point to this.

When looking at the transfer fee as a proportion of United’s annual turnover, the deal is similar in terms of size to the one which saw Sir Alex Ferguson pay Leeds United £29.1m for Rio Ferdinand back in 2002.

According to Duncan Drasdo – CEO of the Manchester United Supporters Trust – the money paid for Ferdinand worked out as 19.9% of the club’s turnover that year, with Pogba’s fee set to account for 19.6% of this year’s turnover (assuming they agree a £100m fee with Juventus).

As the table below shows, both of those deals are behind United’s 2001 move for Juan Sebastien Veron’s move to United from Lazio. The Argentine’s £28.1m fee represented a 21.7% of the club’s turnover that year.

As proportion of #MUFC turnover a £100m Pogba fee equates to what we paid for @rioferdy5 #bargain?
(via @bojochris) pic.twitter.com/3kEEtPJ6kS

— Duncan Drasdo (@Drasdo) July 20, 2016