Mail Sport’s Mike Keegan does not expect new Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to splash the cash in a bid to fix the club’s problems.
Ratcliffe’s Ineos company bought a 25 per cent stake in United on Christmas Eve to raise hopes of an upturn in fortunes at Old Trafford, but the Red Devils failed to add to their playing squad in January as they bid to comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
Keegan believes the Ineos founder will spend big over time to improve the team, but has backed Ratcliffe to take a more cautious approach to player recruitment after a number of disastrous transfer windows over the past decade.
‘The information I’ve got on United is player trading will be big with regards to how much they can spend, and obviously it’s a very low bar considering the absolute car-crash that has been previous transfers windows at Manchester United.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has not splashed the cash on transfers in his first month at Man United
Mail Sport’s Mike Keegan does not expect this to change after United’s previous ‘car-crash’ transfer windows
However, Keegan does expect Ratcliffe to be happy to spend big on improving United’s playing staff in the long run
‘So, there’ll be a focus on that, and also, it sounds a bit cliched, but an organic, revenue-based spend.’
Since Sir Alex Ferguson departed in 2013, United have spent in excess of £1bn, but have not come close to adding a 14th Premier League title to their collection.
A number of their most expensive signings have failed to work out, with Paul Pogba joining for £90m in 2016 – four years after leaving the club on a free – only to rejoin Juventus for nothing once more in 2022 with little to show for his work at United.
The club also spent £85m on Antony, who has scored just five league goals in 18 months, £80m on Harry Maguire, and £73m for Jadon Sancho. The England winger has now returned to Borussia Dortmund on loan for the rest of the season after falling out with Erik ten Hag.
Keegan is tipping Ratcliffe to do things differently now he is at the helm, but January proved that things won’t be easy for the British billionaire.
Part of United’s issue in the current transfer window has been their inability to offload players to provide funds for new players to be brought in.
Erik ten Hag has been unable to bring in any players over the past month, and Keegan thinks Ratcliffe will look at different ways to raise funds to spend on transfers moving forward
The likes of Anthony Martial, Jonny Evans and Tom Heaton are all out of contract this summer and could be moved on, while there has also been interest in Casemiro and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
This could free up money for United to spend on new players as they aim to get back to challenging for major silverware.
But Keegan feels Ratcliffe will also be looking at United’s significant revenue – with the club remaining one of the richest in the world – and will try to find alternative ways to make money that can be used to sign players.
‘They’ll look at United, they’ll look at the revenues that they get, north of £600m, and they’re thinking there has to be a way to be able to make money from that to then spend on transfers,’ Keegan added.
