Sir Jim Ratcliffe has launched a blistering attack on Manchester United players, stating some are “not good enough” and “overpaid”, referencing Casemiro, Antony, Jadon Sancho, Rasmus Højlund and André Onana when doing so.
In a series of interviews, Ratcliffe, the club’s co-owner, also said that Ruben Amorim would be the head coach for a “long time”, and admitted that not sacking Erik ten Hag last summer was an error.
United are down in 14th place on 34 points with 10 games of the Premier League season left. Ratcliffe is clear that this is the fault of players his football department inherited when taking over last year, the billionaire Ineos owner referencing the transfer fee instalments they will have to pay in the close season.
“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 Onana, we’re buying Højlund, we’re buying Sancho,” Ratcliffe said in an interview with the BBC. “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 [on loan] and we pay half his wages, we’re paying £17m to buy him in the summer. It takes time for us to move away from the past into a new place in the future.”
Antony is also on loan at Real Betis, after his £81m transfer from Ajax in 2022 during the same summer Casemiro arrived for £70m from Real Madrid. Højlund, who cost £72m from Atalanta, and Onana (£47m from Inter), joined the following summer. Ratcliffe was asked if he meant this quintet are not of the requisite quality for United.
“Some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid, but for us to mould the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time,” the 72-year-old said. “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.”
After Ten Hag was sacked on 28 October, Amorim was hired on a two-and a-half-year deal. Ratcliffe suggested the Portuguese coach would be in charge for far longer. “If I actually look at the squad which is available to Ruben, I think he is doing a really good job, to be honest,” he said. “I think that 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.”
Ratcliffe pointed to injuries as mitigation regarding United’s league position and the number of young players named as substitutes in Sunday’s 1-1 draw 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] – 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.”
United’s finances are severely constricted after losing £300m in the past three years. Yet despite buying only Patrick Dorgu for €30m (£25.1m), plus up to €5m of add-ons, in the January window, Ratcliffe said Amorim would have money to spend in the summer market. “Obviously that budget changes – but upon who we may choose to sell because that would supplement the budget.”
As homegrown players, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho would represent 100% profit under profitability and sustainability rules. But Ratcliffe denied they and other academy players would be sold to generate funds. “No. We won’t be selling players because of the state we are in financially.”
Ten Hag came close to losing his job last May when Ratcliffe assessed several alternatives. The Dutchman remained in place and was consulted regarding a summer spend of £200m. Ratcliffe admitted that not removing him then was a mistake, along with the hiring of Dan Ashworth, the sporting director who departed in December.
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“I agree the Erik ten Tag and Dan Ashworth decisions were errors. I think there were some mitigating circumstances, but ultimately they were errors. I accept that and I apologise for that. If you look at the time we made the decision about Erik – the [new] management team hadn’t been in place for more than five minutes. It became clearer three months later and we got it wrong. We corrected it and we are in a very different place today.”
Ratcliffe’s Mission 21 aims to claim United a 21st title by 2028, the club’s 150th anniversary, and he believes this remains realistic. “I don’t think it’s mission impossible. I think it’s good to have goals and objectives,” he told the Times. “Liverpool is quite a good example regarding timing, where Jürgen Klopp came in 2015. The process of rebuilding the squad in Liverpool started in summer 2015, they rebuilt the squad in 2015, ’16, ’17 and ’18, then in the next three years they won everything.”
Ratcliffe is to make another 200 redundancies for a total of 450 since he took over last February. Other money-generating decisions include closing the club canteen, ending free lunches for staff and the raising of the minimum ticket price for all categories to £66.
Ratcliffe emphasised the necessity of these cuts, saying the club would have gone bust by this coming Christmas without them. The Guardian first revealed Ratcliffe’s fears over United running out of money in February.
“Manchester United would have run out of cash by the end of this year – by the end of 2025 – after having me put $300m [£232.72m] in and if we buy no new players in the summer,” he said. “We are in the process of change and it’s an uncomfortable period and disruptive and I do feel sympathy with the fans. The simple answer is the club runs out of money at Christmas if we don’t do those things.
“The club had got bloated so we reduced that and will finish it with a lean and efficient organisation. That’s how we will address the costs. The player decisions will all be focused on how we are going to improve performance. That’s all.”
Ratcliffe also defended his stated focus on the men’s side over the women’s team. “Of our £650m of income, £640m of that comes from the men’s team and £10m comes from the women’s team,” he said. “With my business background you tend to focus on the bigger issues before you focus on the smaller issues.”
An announcement is expected on Tuesday regarding plans for what the club has previously said may be “the most iconic football stadium in the world”. This would be built to replace Old Trafford on the current stadium’s site.
