Manchester United have made savings across the board, which led to an operational profit in the second quarter of their financial results, coming as a huge boost to the club’s health off the pitch.

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After plenty of question marks over the club’s financial strength, Manchester United have revealed they have managed to shed £14million from their wage bill, compared to last year, as per their recent second-quarter financial results.

It came after a busy summer transfer window, which has seen some of the squad’s highest earners move on to help stabilise themselves financially.

With a lack of European football after a dismal campaign last time out under Ruben Amorim, there were concerns over investment, due to the lack of broadcasting revenue and prize money that a competition like the Champions League can provide the club.

As a result, a clear-out of the squad was underway, as players such as Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund, and Andre Onana were sent out on loan to help ease the wage bill, while giving them places to play, as they were seemingly deemed surplus to requirements for the head coach at the time.

There were permanent exits for Alejandro Garnacho and Antony, which further helped the bank balance before the club went into the market for options to bolster the squad moving forward.

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Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko, and Senne Lammens all moved to Old Trafford, but even with those high-profile arrivals, the wage bill still fell to £75.1million for the three months ending December 31.

That represents a nine per cent decrease on the previous year, while the wages to revenue ratio sits at a healthy 45%; for every £1 the club bring in, only 45p is spent on wages, which is one of the lowest in the Premier League.

It has helped to justify moving on the likes of Rashford – who was a huge earner – and Garnacho. The pair fell out of favour under Amorim and seemingly didn’t have a future at United, with the club now able to invest from a stronger position.

It remains to be seen what that means for United in the summer, given their transfer spend in the summer, but that could all depend on the job Michael Carrick can do.

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A return to the Champions League would represent a huge potential boost to revenue, with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City landing roughly upwards of £90million from the league phase alone across all revenue streams – while Tottenham picked up just over £80million, and Newcastle landed in the £50million region.

That could unlock extra money for United to strengthen in the summer again, having just posted operating profits of £32.6million in their latest accounts.

While that is a possibility, the strategy over those transfers will largely depend on which head coach the hierarchy lands on for the role, and there is a long way to go until that is all made clear.

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Pakistan’s captain Salman Ali Agha, right, with teammate Saim Ayub during a practice session. (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: New Zealand knocked co-hosts Sri Lanka out of the T20 World Cup with a comprehensive 61-run win in Colombo on Wednesday, but the result has also kept Pakistan in contention for a dramatic semi-final qualification. With England already through, the race for the final spot from Super Eights Group 2 will now be decided over the last two matches.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Chasing 169, Sri Lanka needed a convincing victory to stay alive but faltered badly, crawling to 107/8 and exiting the tournament with one game still to play. The heavy defeat ended their campaign and confirmed a fifth straight failure to reach the semi-finals since their 2014 title triumph. The win also significantly boosted New Zealand, whose net run rate jumped to a healthy +3.050, putting them in pole position to qualify alongside England.

However, Pakistan’s hopes hinge on the outcome of England versus New Zealand in Colombo on Friday. If New Zealand defeat England, they will finish on five points and qualify directly, rendering Pakistan’s final Super Eights clash against Sri Lanka irrelevant.Pakistan’s opportunity opens up only if England beat New Zealand. In that scenario, England will top the group with six points, leaving New Zealand on three and Pakistan with a chance to draw level if they beat Sri Lanka in their final match in Kandy.If Pakistan win and both teams finish on three points, qualification will be decided by net run rate. The current projections underline the scale of the task facing Pakistan.

T20 World Cup Super 8s Group 2 Points Table

For instance, if England beat New Zealand by 50 runs, Pakistan would need to defeat Sri Lanka by roughly 20 runs to edge ahead on net run rate, assuming a first-innings score of around 170.If Pakistan chase instead, the equation becomes tougher. They would need to complete the chase in approximately 17.5 overs to surpass New Zealand’s net run rate. Any slower victory could still leave them behind the Blackcaps.England’s dominance in the Super Eights has simplified the group standings, but Sri Lanka’s exit has ensured the final semi-finalist will be decided in a tense finish. Pakistan must now deliver not just a win, but a big one — and hope England do them a favour — to keep their World Cup dream alive.

If you spend any time at all around golf’s crop of TV analysts, you realize something unusual: By the letter of the law, almost none of them are qualified.

The reason for this is not broadcast training or golf skill, but something much simpler. In the history of golf television, there have been only a handful of so-called “Lead Analysts” — the talking heads atop each network’s broadcast — and all but one of them have been major championship winners.

On Wednesday morning, that group added a surprise new voice to the mix: Jim Furyk, who will call two PGA Tour events on the Florida swing — the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship — in the lead analyst chair for Golf Channel.

The 55-year-old U.S. Open winner and former Ryder Cup captain is no stranger to life inside the ropes. Over the past several years, he’s been a fixture on the PGA Tour Champions, winning the Tour’s rookie of the year award in 2021 and hosting an annual Champions Tour event through his charity, Furyk and Friends. His TV and radio history is less thorough, though he has been no stranger to media scrums in his three decades and 17 victories on the PGA Tour — and has served as a frequent guest on SiriusXM throughout the years.

“It’s probably on a trial basis, see how much I like it, get a feel for it,” Furyk told the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson. “With any new endeavor, it’s a learning process. There’s a feel and flow for how the show is done. I’m focused on doing the best job for two weeks.”

The 17-time PGA Tour winner may not have a preponderance of TV experience, but he does have a deep well of professional experience to lean on. He has competed as a pro for more than three decades, and enters the Players Championship with five top-5 finishes in the event, including two runner-up finishes, most recently as an out-of-nowhere 48-year-old in 2019. Furyk never won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he was just the third pro ever (following Palmer and Bruce Fleisher) to win his first two starts on the Champions Tour.

It’s early to forecast exactly what the tryout period means for Furyk’s TV future (in large part because he does not currently have a TV past to speak of), but he enters the job with something every fellow golf analyst craves: his 2003 victory at the U.S. Open at Olympia Fields. While Furyk might ultimately choose not to pursue a pathway to a lead analyst role with any of golf’s major networks, the major championship pedigree provides him with a potential pathway to a lead analyst chair that, until NBC’s Kevin Kisner, had only ever been occupied by major championship winners.

Ironically, Kisner’s path to the lead chair at NBC could provide clues for Furyk as he tries to navigate the journey forward. Kisner was a full-time PGA Tour player when he first stepped into NBC’s “tryout” to replace Paul Azinger in the lead analyst chair, then spent a year flirting with the job on a part-time basis before being named Azinger’s permanent replacement at the end of 2024.

Mohamed Salah would be happy to stay at Liverpool until 2027, there are six Premier League clubs interested in Eintracht Frankfurt’s Nnamdi Collins, while Casemiro wants to keep playing in Europe.

Egypt forward Mohamed Salah, 33, is happy to see out the remainder of his Liverpool contract, which runs up to the end of next season, should a move to the Saudi Pro League not materialise this summer. (Football Insider), external

Eintracht Frankfurt’s 22-year-old Germany defender Nnamdi Collins is the subject of interest from Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, Brighton and Brentford. (Teamtalk), external

Manchester United‘s Brazil midfielder Casemiro, 34, wants to continue his career in Europe when his contract ends at Old Trafford in the summer, and Italy is a possible next destination. (Sun), external

German agent Volker Struth, who has worked with Florian Wirtz in the past, says he offered the Germany midfielder to Real Madrid last summer before his £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool. (Phrasenmaher via Mirror), external

Manchester United plan to sell Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana, 29, this summer, but expect to receive significantly less than the £50m they paid Inter Milan to sign him in 2023. (Talksport), external

However, Onana wants to fight to re-establish himself as Manchester United‘s number one when his loan spell at Trabzonspor finishes in May – and believes he will be given a chance to do so. (Guardian), external