Man Utd: Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘sanctions’ three summer transfers in ‘significant transfer spend’
New Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is ready to sanction a ‘significant transfer spend’ in the summer transfer window, according to reports.
The British billionaire completed his £1.3billion deal to become minority owner of the Premier League giants earlier this week as he outlined plans for the future of the club.
A year and three months after the club announced a strategic review, and 58 days after a deal was struck, there is finally a new power structure in place at Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe has completed his purchase of 25 per cent of the shares owned by the Glazer family, who have been United’s majority owners since their controversial leveraged buyout in 2005.
It is expected that there will be a major overhaul of the recruitment department at Man Utd now Ratcliffe has been given control of footballing operations at the Premier League club.
Man Utd have been heavily criticised for wasting 100s of millions on poor signings over the last decade since Sir Alex Ferguson left Old Trafford in 2013.
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And now the Daily Mail claims that Ratcliffe is ‘ready to sanction a significant transfer spend at Manchester United this summer with the club’s financial restrictions easing and a number of player sales planned’.
Despite claims earlier this week that their transfer budget might be ‘severely squeezed’, the Daily Mail insists that Man Utd are ‘no longer in danger of breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules [PSR]’.
New signings will still be ‘partially dependent on outgoings this summer’ but Man Utd have given themselves ‘a buffer of around £40m this summer without risking a PSR breach’.
Man Utd and Ratcliffe’s ‘priorities at this stage are believed to be a centre-forward, central midfield player and centre-back’ with Newcastle’s Dan Ashworth – who has been placed on gardening leave – expected to oversee the recruitment process as new sporting director.
Former Man Utd defender Gary Neville believes the mood has already changed at Old Trafford since the Red Devils announced that Ratcliffe had agreed a 25 per cent takeover with Erik ten Hag’s side winning six of their last seven matches in all competitions.
Neville said: “The turn in Manchester United’s fortunes has coincided at the point where Jim Ratcliffe came in. I think it might be a little bit of a coincidence.
“You remember that second 45 minutes against Aston Villa on Boxing Day which damaged Villa. The two Manchester United games will really damage Unai Emery because they played really well in both games.
“They hammered United in the first half. United were breathtaking in that second half, that was Jim Ratcliffe’s first game as it were as he’d been announced on Christmas Eve.It has been an about-turn. I think what Jim Ratcliffe has done, he’s come in and said to all of them, I’m looking at every single one of you lot. You’re all playing for your future.”
Neville added, “They have got the players back, Casemiro was out for a long time, and they had players out in key positions, so there was an element of that but I do believe the mood has changed. What the fans wanted, what everyone connected with United was just some interference with the complete and utter tosh we’ve seen for 10 years. What’s happened is the boardroom has been disrupted, which means there’s a completely new energy with decisions being made.”
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