By Adam Williams, Finance & Governance Correspondent

8th May, 2023 | 2:45pm

Sources: Drastic Man United pay cut revealed as £75m hangs in the balance

Adidas will slash their annual payment to Man United in 2023-24 if they fail to qualify for the Champions League for a second successive year, Football Insider has learned.

The Red Devils have won just one of their last four Premier League games and now have only a one-point cushion on Liverpool in 5th place, albeit with a game in hand over their arch-rivals.

Brighton meanwhile will move to within two points of United if they win their own pair of games in hand.

United are eight years into a 10-year deal with Adidas, who are believed to pay around £75million per season for the rights to produce their kit and sell club-branded merchandise worldwide.

The exact reduction written into the contract in the event of a second consecutive campaign without Champions League football is not known, but a commercial source described it as “sizable.”

United face Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham in their last three league games this term before the FA Cup final against treble-chasing Man City on 3 June.

The drop in income from Adidas would likely be spread across the remaining two years of the deal rather than solely in the next season.

Nonetheless, the clause could exacerbate the financial impact of a lack of Champions League football in 2023-24 – participation in 2021-22 was worth £68.3m, per Uefa’s official distribution data.

It would also be a far from ideal start for the would-be new owners, with bids for majority control of the club submitted by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos group and a Qatari consortium fronted by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani.

In other news, the truth about Sheikh Jassim’s £800m pledge has been revealed in Man United takeover latest.