Manchester United have made a solid first step on trying to get back in the right form after confirming the departures of Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Juan Mata among others.

"Thank you for dedicating eight years of your career to United, Juan. Everyone at the club wishes you all the best for the future," United said in a statement on Thursday. Having joined the club in January 2014, he has scored 51 goals and 47 assists for the "Red Devils" and will see his contract come due in June.

Mata, Lingard and Pogba will be joined by Nemanja Matic, Edinson Cavani and Lee Grant who is set to become an assistant manager at Ipswich Town on their way out from United's payroll. According to Spotrac, their departures will save the club as much as 48.44 million pounds (about $60.89 million) in basis wages, not to mention various bonuses.

More are likely to join the above players to seek their way out of the Old Trafford. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly, Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial are all on the club's sales list. Martial, who was sent to Sevilla on loan in January, has an annual salary of 13 million pounds (about $16.3 million) and his deal won't come due until 2025 summer. United understandably want to get rid of him, especially for his underperformance in recent seasons.

The club will have a big enough payroll thanks to the salaries of those who are likely to stay. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo makes 26.52 million pounds (about $32.21 million) for the 2022-23 season, followed by David De Gea (19.5 million pounds, about $24.5 million), Jadon Sancho (18.2 million pounds, about $22.9 million) and Raphael Varane (17.68 million pounds, about $22.23 million).

When Erik ten Hag agreed to become the manager of United, he was granted "control" of the club's transfers. Removing the redundant players from the roster is only the first step. He will need to introduce younger and more energetic ones to repeat his success at Ajax.