Man Utd to close staff canteen

Manchester United is to close its staff canteen and instead offer employees a free piece of fruit as part of more cost-cutting measures at the club.

A staff meeting is due to take place this afternoon when it is anticipated a fresh round of redundancies will be confirmed.

Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been determined to drive down costs at United, believing huge amounts of money are being wasted at a time when he is trying to stem losses in excess of £300m over the past three years.

Head Coach Ruben Amorim has already admitted the first-team squad must take responsibility for that as it is by far the most expensive part of the business.

United are currently facing the possibility of a £20m reduction in Premier League prizemoney this season after dropping to 15th from last season's eighth-place finish, which many inside the club said was unacceptable. Each place in the table is worth approximately £3m as part of the domestic and overseas TV distribution.

The club also confirmed last week that it had spent in excess of £12m on additional payments related to the January window arrivals of Patrick Dorgu, a £25m arrival from Italian club Lecce, and youngster Ayden Heaven from Arsenal, plus Amad Diallo's long-term contract extension.

Staff have traditionally benefitted from free hot meals but that practice is to stop.