Real Madrid leapfrog Man United and Barcelona to become world’s richest club

REAL MADRID have leapfrogged Manchester United and rivals Barcelona to become the richest club in the world.

After winning a third consecutive Champions League in May - to take their tally to 13 - the Galacticos banked revenues of an astonishing £659m in 2017-18.

Toni Kroos helped Real Madrid win the Champions League final

That represented a rise of £60m from the previous year, when they had fallen narrowly behind United in the revenue list.

But with United's latest figures showing a slight fall to £590m, to add to their on-pitch woes under Jose Mourinho - Real have streaked ahead of the Old Trafford club.

Barcelona, too, who reported figures of £602m, are above United and in second place.

But while United have dropped off the pace set by Spain's big two, they remain comfortably the best-placed English side.

While Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are yet to report their latest figures, they were all way adrift of United in 2016-17.

And United's only real financial rivals, Manchester City, have already confirmed their revenues rose in 2017-18 from £463m to a club record £501m.

The United board has bigger problems to worry about after the 3-1 loss to West Ham and the turgid Champions League draw with Valencia on Tuesday.

Mourinho looked certain for the chop but ex-Real boss Zinedine Zidane has apparently cooled his interest in taking over, leaving executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward with a small pool to select his replacement from.