Manchester United will field the first ever £400m team in Premier League history when they take on Leicester City on Saturday afternoon, setting a new record in the process.
The Red Devils are looking to maintain their winning start to the new campaign and Jose Mourinho has duly named a full strength team for the occasion, with Anthony Martial – so impressive off the bench – given a chance to shine from the start.
With club-record signing Paul Pogba and summer signings Romelu Lukaku, who cost an initial £75m, and Nemanja Matic, who cost £40m, also picked, it takes the total value of the lineup past the £400m mark.
Incredibly, it breaks the record held by rivals Manchester City, who have named ever-so-slightly increasingly expensive XIs in their first three matches of the new season.
Starting against Brighton, and then Everton, their side got increasingly more expensive, before culminating in a starting XI against Bournemouth that cost £376.2m.
Cost of Man City XI v Bournemouth
Ederson – £35m
Danilo – £26.5m
Vincent Kompany – £6.7m
Nicolas Otamendi – £32
Benjamin Mendy – £52m
Fernandinho – £30m
Kevin De Bruyne – £55m
Bernardo Silva – £43m
David Silva – £25m
Raheem Sterling – £44m
Gabriel Jesus – £27m
TOTAL: £376.2m
But that is still in the shadow of United’s lineup, which comes in at £401.8m – £25.6m more than City – though the sky blues could exceed that figure if, for example, Kyle Walker replaces Danilo and John Stones replaces Vincent Kompany.
Cost of Man Utd XI v Leicester
De Gea – £18.9m
Antonio Valencia – £16m
Eric Bailly – £30m
Phil Jones – £17m
Dailly Blind – £13.8m
Nemanja Matic – £40m
Paul Pogba – £89m
Juan Mata – £37.1m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – £30m
Anthony Martial – £35m
Romelu Lukaku – £75m
TOTAL: £401.8m
Though, similarly, United can also increase the worth of their starting XI too, with Victor Lindelof still deemed not ready to start by Mourinho; if the Swede is picked ahead of Phil Jones, he would stick another £14m on the record.
But it could be a while before Lindelof sees pitch time in the Premier League, with the summer signing from Benfica not even named on the bench to take on Leicester at Old Trafford.
Marcus Rashford is the player who makes way for Martial, stopping United from naming an unchanged team for three successive league matches – something that has not happened since 2006.
Leicester, meanwhile, are unchanged from the side that beat Brighton so comfortably, with Vicente Iborra once again in midfield – the only difference from the team that scored three times at Arsenal.
After overcoming injury, Leicester’s record signing Kelechi Iheanacho – once of United’s rivals City, of course – is back in the matchday squad and will be looking to make a big impact off the bench.
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