Just in case the business of buying and selling professional footballers wasn't complicated enough, English teams are now facing a new challenge as many of Europe's top players are demanding their salaries in euro.
Cliff Baty, Manchester United's chief financial officer commented yesterday that Brexit is making it harder to get plays to sign on the 'dotted line.'
"It was a bit difficult last year when we were trying to make signings and you had players questioning the value of being paid in sterling," he said, as reported by The Financial Times.
"A lot of European players will want to be paid in euros, understandably to a degree," he continued, adding that as a club and business which operates in sterling, managing euro payments is "quite tricky."
The pound has lost almost 20% of its value since the EU membership referendum, some analysts have warned that it could hit parity with the euro before the end of 2017.
Given the scale of Manchester United, it is used to dealing with euro payments from bodies like UEFA, and international sponsorship deals in US dollars - but the club has maintained a policy of only paying players in sterling.
"We’re not going to lose signings over it. It just makes the finances more complicated," the executive said, speaking at KPMG's Football Benchmark event which named his club the richest in Europe.
Mr Baty cautioned that after Brexit, UK clubs may struggle to snap-up the best emerging talent from around the world.
EU legislation allows English teams to sign 16-18 year olds - after leaving the union it may have to wait until European players are 18:
"It was a practical operational issue around bringing in players, and losing competitive advantage against Real Madrid and Barcelona ... You could get 16-year-olds going to them, if we have to wait until they are 18," he commented.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
