Liverpool set to financially overtake Man Utd

Liverpool are close to knocking Manchester United right off their financial perch after posting a record-breaking annual turnover of £533million.

Sir Alex Ferguson once used a very similar phrase in describing his mission to make United the most powerful club in the land…. he just used a different F-word.

But Jurgen Klopp’s side are now only 12 points away from their first Premier League triumph – which would take them back to within one of United’s 20 top-flight titles.

They are also on the financial trajectory that by could soon see them overtake their bitter Old Trafford rivals as well as Manchester City in terms of money made over a season.

Liverpool currently lie seventh in Deloitte’s Football Money League of the richest clubs in the world behind their Manchester rivals, with United third and City sixth.

But just like things have been changing radically on the pitch, so they are off it.

The release of Liverpool accounts for last season came less than 48 hours after United revealed that their net debt of had gone up by £73.6m to £391.1m.

They also predicted as part of their second quarter accounts that annual turnover is likely to hit between £560m and £580m.

Those figures reflect the lack of Champions League football at the club – and mean Liverpool could be less than £30m away from overtaking them. For the cash is rolling into Anfield.

Thanks to last season’s second-place run of 97 points and triumph over Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid, Liverpool became the first club to earn £250m in TV money.

Their financial figures by this time next year are likely to go through the roof of the re-built main stand that is helping pile up the profits.

Having already upped the stadium’s capacity to 54,000 with main stand enlargement consultations are on – going to increase the size of the Anfield Road end.

That £60m project would add a further 7,000, almost 2,000 of them high – priced hospitality seats.

Liverpool’s turnover increased by £78m with media revenue going up by £41m to £261m, commercial revenue by £34m to £188m and that of match day takings by £3.5m to £84m.

Pre-tax profit was £42m despite a club record investment of £223m on bringing in new stars Alisson, Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri.

Eleven players also renewed their contracts including Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

There is also a £50m investment for the new ultra-tech Kirkby training complex which opens at the end of the season.

United this week trumpeted their growing digital global reach but Liverpool are catching up on that front too.

Social media followers increased by 26 per cent to nearly 70m, Liverpool’s official YouTube channel reached 2.5m subscribers and is the most-followed club in the Premier League.

Twitter also increased by 11 percent to 13.5m and reached 59m total engagements during the 2018-19 season – 6m more than any other Premier League club.

Chief operating officer Andy Hughes said: “We’re seeing sustained growth across all areas of the club aligned to the recent performance on the pitch.

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“Being able to reinvest over £220m on players during this financial period is a result of a successful business strategy, particularly the significant uplift in commercial revenues.”