Manchester United’s wage bill has ballooned to almost £300 million following increased salary payments from the Champions League and the arrival of Alexis Sanchez.

United announced a profit of £44.1m for the 2017/18 season on the back of record revenues of £590m but the most eye-catching figure was a dramatic 12.3 per cent jump in wages to £295.9m.

The sharp increase was primarily attributed to a rise in “player salary uplifts” relating to the club’s return to the Champions League last season, despite a dismal Round of 16 exit to Sevilla, and means United now have the second-highest earning squad in Europe behind Barcelona, whose 2016/17 wage bill stood at £336m.

Although United removed Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Adnan Januzaj from their wage bill over the course of the last financial year, the signing of Sanchez from Arsenal in January in a £500,000-a-week deal, and the arrival of Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof, also impacted on the salary bill hike.

Wages now account for 50.2 per cent of turnover - a healthy figure still, but up from 45.3 per cent in 2016/17.

The latest figures came as Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, offered his backing to Jose Mourinho at the same time as leaving the manager under no illusions about the importance of winning and blooding home-grown talent.