Manchester United Top Real Madrid, More as World's Most Profitable Club

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Manchester United have been named as the most profitable club in world football following a study conducted by Forbes.

As reported by Lee Astley ^[1] of the Sun, the business magazine ran a study looking into the numbers behind top clubs in 2014-15, when United made a massive £132 million. Real Madrid were second on the list, having posted a £112 million profit. The Red Devils' city rivals, Manchester City, were third with £91 million.

Aside from the two Manchester clubs, the Premier League also had Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in the top 10 spots, which were rounded out by Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Schalke.

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Commercially, there's no denying United are in excellent shape. Executive vice chairman Ed Woodward has his critics among the club's supporters ^[2], but he's been central to securing a succession of key, profitable partnerships.

The Red Devils, despite their slump since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, secured a whopping £750 million kit deal ^[3] with Adidas in 2014. A report from the Daily Mirror's James Whaling ^[4] in February noted that the club has a staggering 70 commercial partners in total.

Oliver Holt of the Mail on Sunday suggested the pursuit of off-field tie-ups has come at the cost of performances on it:

At what point does anybody at MUFC start asking questions about Ed Woodward? Or does fact United have a new tractor partner matter more?
— Oliver Holt (@OllieHolt22) March 17, 2016 ^[5]

Indeed, the club is not having the best campaign under the guidance of Louis van Gaal. It's a season that could still end positively as United could feasibly win the FA Cup and still have an outside chance of finishing in the UEFA Champions League spots. But they are synonymous with challenging for the biggest prizes, and they're a long way off doing so.

As midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger's social media post suggested in the wake of United's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace on Wednesday, getting into the top four is very much the main aim for this group of players:

Yes!! We're back in the top-four race. Very well done, @ManUtd! 👍🏻 #mufc pic.twitter.com/yldg6KmLRU ^[6]^[7]^[8]
— Basti Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) April 20, 2016 ^[9]

If United are to continue prospering financially, a sustained spell of competing at the top level is vital.

Jack Gaughan ^[10] of MailOnline noted earlier this season that should United fail to qualify for next season's Champions League, as well as the 2017-18 edition, their revenue from the deal with Adidas would be slashed by around 30 per cent.

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It's also stated that while this is arguably the most vital contract the club has in place, there are no stipulations in other deals that'd see the Red Devils short-changed as a result of underachievement on the field.

"There may be other sponsors who inserted something but those figures are nowhere near United's huge global partners," added Gaughan.

It means United will once again be likely be able to compete for the best players in the world. However, with the Premier League more awash with money than ever before, reported by Nick Harris ^[11] for MailOnline, it's imperative that's supplemented by evident progression on the field too. At the moment, United haven't got that balance right.