SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has given a damning assessment of five Manchester United players after slamming some of them as “not good enough”.
The Ineos chief, who bought a 27.7 per cent minority stake in the Red Devils a little over 12 months ago, laid bare the shocking state the club are in on Monday.
The British billionaire revealed the club had lost money for the last seven years in a row following a string of poor financial decisions including a huge increase of staff at the club and flop signings that would have seen the club RUN OUT by the end of 2025.
Many of these flop signings were signed for massive fees and given mega-money contracts, with performances on the pitch failing to match the investment.
Ratcliffe, 70, name-dropped five of the most severe cases which his Ineos investment bought.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “If you look at the players we are buying this summer, that we didn’t buy, we’re buying Antony.
“We’re buying Casemiro, we’re buying [Andre] Onana, we’re buying [Rasmus] Hojlund, we’re buying [Jadon] Sancho.
“These are all things from the past, whether we like it or not, we’ve inherited those things and have to sort that out.
“For Sancho, who now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages, we’re paying £17million to buy him in the summer.”
These signings were all made during the tenure of Erik ten Hag as manager with the likes of John Murtough and Richard Arnold overseeing decisions at a boardroom level.
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Indeed, the situation has grown so bad regarding the club’s debt and interest that Ratcliffe told The Overlap the club would pay £89m this summer even if not a single player was signed.
He added to the BBC: “Some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Sir Jim Ratcliffe explains his plans for the new Man Utd Stadium ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6369874086112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“But for us to mould the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time.
“We’ve got this period of transformation where we move from the past to the future.
“There are some great players in the squad as we know, the captain is a fabulous footballer.
“We definitely need Bruno Fernandes, he’s a fantastic footballer.”
Ratcliffe indicated the club was finally ready to take the major strides it needs to get back to the top level after the final piece of the management jigsaw moved into place last week.
While he admitted many of the decisions made at the moment made him unpopular, he was optimistic they would benefit the long-term plans of the club.
This included a transfer strategy which would back Ruben Amorim in the summer, who Ratcliffe believes has been dealt a bad hand in his early Man Utd tenure due to having to deal with injuries.
He told the BBC: “If I actually look at the squad which is available to Ruben, I think he is doing a really good job to be honest.
“I think Ruben is an outstanding young manager. I really do. He’s an excellent manager and I think he will be there for a long time.
“You are beginning to see a glimpse of what Ruben can produce. I think you saw a glimpse of it against Arsenal.
“How many players against Arsenal on the bench did you recognise?
“How many have ever worn a Manchester United shirt for [the first team]… as there’s no squad left.
“We are down to the last 10 or 11 men in the squad really, of proper first-team players. Ruben is doing a super job.”
Expanding on this point on The Overlap, he said: “So if you modify our salary bill for the players that are not available to Ruben, then our salary bill ranks us about, you know, middling, second half of the table.
“We’re sort of level with the likes of a Nottingham Forest or Everton, not a Manchester City one.
“That salary bill, if you look at that salary bill, is probably about £130m, and we’re talking about Liverpool who’s got a salary bill of £200m, Manchester City have got a salary bill of £300m, so that’s the squad that Ruben’s playing with.”
Ratcliffe’s glowing character reference of Amorim also saw him reveal that when they speak Amorim tells him to “f*** off”.
Amorim’s squad are next in action for the second leg of their Europa League last 16 tie with Real Sociedad, with the score 1-1 after the first leg in Spain.
The other positive outlined by Ratcliffe was the building of a new stadium and regeneration of the local area around it.
[boxout headline=”Man Utd ratings vs Arsenal as De Ligt shows exactly why Red Devils signed him but Zirkzee is as frustrating as ever” featured-image=”33763928″]IT was a performance that would have pleased Ruben Amorim but a 1-1 draw with Arsenal does little to paper over the cracks at Manchester United.
On a day when the Old Trafford crowd protested the owners, the players stood up to show their remains life in a club that fans say is experiencing a “slow death”.
There was a lack of clear-cut chances in the opening 45 minutes as both sides goalscoring troubles continued.
A moment of magic was needed and Fernandes stepped up as he so often does.
Arsenal‘s wall was full of man mountains, but Fernandes found the power, dip and accuracy to beat David Raya with his free-kick – even if the wall was marched 11.2 yards back instead of the regulated ten.
Mikel Arteta’s side came out swinging in the second-half with their makeshift No9 up top, and it took a brilliant effort from Declan Rice to level the scores.
United were able to frustrate them and remain a threat on the counter but eventually had to settle for a point in a much-improved performance.
Here is how SunSport’s Martin Blackburn rated the United performances.