Manchester United risk missing out on a lot if they lose Champions League spot

Manchester United can't afford to miss out on Champions League football, with the impact on Erik ten Hag's side far beyond just the embarrassment.

It has looked for a long time that United would easily finish in the Premier League's top four and return to the Champions League for next season.

That was until they lost back-to-back games against Brighton and West Ham United last week, the latter thanks to David de Gea's awful mistake.

Coupled with Liverpool's brilliant form of winning six games on the bounce, there is now a chance that Ten Hag's side don't make the top four.

They're likely to need to win three of their final four games of the season in order to finish in the top four, which Bruno Fernandes believes they deserve.

If they don't then it will obviously be a cause of huge embarrassment as well as obviously not playing in Europe's premier competition again being a blow.

But it's not the only issues they'll face should they miss out, with a £73 million windfall for winning the Champions League on offer.

Of course, that would be unlikely but they earned £10 million for reaching the Europa League quarter-finals this year, which would have been £35 million in the better tournament.

At full time against West Ham, United players knew they were in trouble. Image: Alamy

Money could also cause discontent amongst some of the players, with United's contracts including a pay deduction clause for not qualifying for the Champions League.

It was one of the issues a year ago that first led Cristiano Ronaldo to become annoyed with life at Old Trafford and ask to be transfered.

Whilst the five time Ballon d'Or winner doesn't have worry about his wages dropping for the second time, the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford might.

Rashford is currently locked in contract negotiations with the club and an automatically lowered wage and lack of Champions League football could lead him to question his future.

United already face a very interesting and once again pivotal summer when it comes to transfers, which is complicated by the ongoing takeover.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is reportedly ready to get rid of Richard Arnold, who currently sorts the club's transfers, which won't help when it comes to trying to buy players.

Of course, missing out on Champions League football will also have a massive impact on which players might want to come, with the top players all desperate to play in the biggest competitions against the best sides.

Ten Hag's own future could also potentially be under threat, as every Red Devils manager since Sir Alex Ferguson who has missed out on the top four has ended up being sacked.