“It’s the greatest club in the world so it should be playing the greatest football in the world.”
That was the overarching ambition Sir Jim Ratcliffe laid out to Manchester United fans following his ratification as their (and his) club’s new co-owner in February; the type of top-down directive sorely lacking at Old Trafford in the malaise which has engulfed the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
The British billionaire was quick to concede it’s one which will require patience to achieve, however.
“It’s the greatest club in the world so it should be playing the greatest football in the world. But it’s not a light switch. We can’t just switch a switch and, all of a sudden, United are going to be playing football at the level of Real Madrid because they haven’t been for the last 11 years. That takes time and it takes a bit of patience”, Ratcliffe explained.
The club’s new co-owner continued: “The important thing is, I think, that we all observe the trajectory of Manchester United over the next two or three seasons, and the trajectory has to be in a good direction. So, I think that’s how we should be measured by people.”
A ‘Best-in-Class’ Leadership Team
This new course chartered by United will be governed by the INEOS Sport team, who gained full control over the football operation at Old Trafford as part of Ratcliffe’s 25 per cent minority stake ownership bid.
The early period of their revolution has focused on establishing a ‘best-in-class’ executive structure at the club, beginning with Omar Berrada as the new chief executive.
Berrada’s appointment, poached from under the noses of local rivals Manchester City, is described by inside sources as a potential “game-changer”, given the reputation he possesses within footballing circles. He is likely to be joined by Dan Ashworth as sporting director, who has cultivated a similar pedigree to Berrada, with a recruitment specialist and technical directors also wanted to buttress this team.
While this approach, and each prospective appointment within it, have offered an impressive insight into the long-term ambition now in place at Old Trafford, it is the upcoming transfer window where INEOS will face the first genuine test of their tenure as United’s new rulers; and the first opportunity to demonstrate they will not fall foul of the same mistakes which have plagued the club in the past decade.
Learning From the Past
A truly eye-watering sum of money has been wasted on recruitment under the Glazer ownership, with virtually nothing to show for it, outside of a selection of trophies the annals of United’s history do not consider genuine success.
The club has bumbled haphazardly from one transfer window to the next, acting reactively rather than proactively. They have developed a painful habit of basing recruitment decisions on players’ reputations, rather than their realities as footballers. Equally, they often simply bow to the whims of their manager, signing targets who do fit neither a specific profile nor philosophy, but rather the personal preference of their coach.
No transfer encapsulates this outrageously incompetent approach more than Antony.
Upon the direction of Erik ten Hag, freshly captured from Ajax to be club’s new manager in the summer of 2022, United reapproached the Dutch club for his attacking protégé, having already signed Lisandro Martinez earlier in the window.
The Brazilian winger was adjudged to be worth in the region of £25 million by the recruitment team at Old Trafford. Ajax informed United of a much higher price than this and, despite having already made the concession they would ignore their scout’s expertise by going as high as the £60 million mark, they agreed, in a rare moment of sanity, to walk away from the deal.
But then Gary Neville’s infamous adage of ‘This is Manchester United‘ reared its ugly head once again.
Back-to-back defeats in Ten Hag’s opening two games, including an abject 4-0 defeat away to Brentford, launched Old Trafford into a reactive frenzy. This led to a panicked return to Amsterdam for the club’s executives, to acquiesce to whatever price Ajax felt appropriate.
A deal worth £86 million was struck two weeks later.
From £25 million in a scouting report, to a self-imposed £60 million cap in a boardroom, to an embarrassing compromise in the same office, making Antony the seventh most expensive player in English football’s history – all in the space of just over a month.
The fact the diminutive Brazilian has largely looked incapable of being a Premier League footballer in his two seasons since joining United, let alone one of the division’s biggest signings, encapsulates exactly why the club have veered so badly off course in recent times.
A Plan for All Seasons
INEOS will be wise to heed these lessons as they approach one of the most important transfer windows in the club’s history.
United simply cannot afford to miss again in the market, with Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City in far better positions, and Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, and Newcastle all on their own upwards trajectory. Even Chelsea are likely to be better next year, given they can’t possibly be as bad as this season again.
With the future of Ten Hag unlikely to be resolved before the end of the season, the club must establish an iron-clad plan for the summer transfer window which works for whomever is at the helm in August. And given the weaknesses in United’s squad are glaringly obvious, it is evident where Old Trafford officials must begin their recruitment.
But this must be balanced by the constraints of financial fair play, as well as the reality of running a business, given a twelve man wish-list with seventeen players sold in order to fund it only exists on football manager.
As such, The Peoples Person have established a five position plan for the summer window, with a range of targets for each area who would suit whichever manager INEOS settle upon, including Ten Hag. Day-by-day over the first week of the international break, we will offer analysis for why this position must be upgraded, and why that specific player is the ideal option for the role.
All while trying to balance it within a realistic budget.
The Budget
United’s transfer spend over the past three seasons has been: 2023/24 – £172 million; 2022/23 – £207 million; and 2021/22 – £121 million. This spending equates to an average budget of £167 million, which will form the basis of our prospective budget.
However, given the sheer number of players the club are likely to sell this summer, including a number of academy graduates (who represent a treasure trove from an FFP perspective), as well as the fact Ratcliffe will want to make a splash in his first window as the club’s co-owner, The Peoples Person feel confident United’s net-spend this summer can remain £167 million, while the total spend reaches as high as £250 million.
It will require far more than this sum to re-establish the club as the greatest in the world, but it will be an important first step.
The List of Targets
With this war chest in mind, and the weaknesses in the squad at present, the five areas INEOS must prioritise this summer are:
- A centre-back
- A left-back
- A defensive midfielder
- A right-winger
- A centre-forward
The first article of the series will begin tomorrow in central defence, with a detailed explanation of why and who, with a little sprinkling of when in there as well. Stay tuned.
