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‘It’s not that clever to buy Mbappe’: Sir Jim Ratcliffe explains Manchester United’s transfer plans
Sir Jim Ratcliffe dismissed the idea of signing superstar names like Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe as he opened up on his plans for Manchester United.
Ratcliffe has assumed a large element of control over United’s operations after buying a quarter of the club to become co-owner with the much-maligned Glazer family, in a deal which was finally confirmed last month. He quickly installed cycling supremo Sir Dave Brailsford to conduct a full audit of how the club is run and they are now making key decisions in their bid to revive United’s fortunes.
“The two people who are most focused on it would be Dave and myself, in terms of how we resolve it all,” Ratcliffe told The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast. “We’ve now got Omar Berrada of course, our new CEO from Manchester City, who is still on gardening leave at the moment, he’ll be a big part of it. But it’s Dave and myself really, and we have a daily chat… It’s never a short chat with Dave, is it?”
Read more: Ratcliffe is winning the PR battle – can he get United winning on the pitch again?
Thomas, who rides for Ratcliffe’s Ineos cycling team, cheekily posed the idea of signing England and Real Madrid star Bellingham. But Ratcliffe believes spending vast sums on new players is not the best approach.
“He’s a great footballer [but] it’s not where our focus is. The solution isn’t spending a lot of money on a couple of great players. They’ve done that, if you look at the last 10 years. The first thing we need to do is get the right people in the right boxes, managing and organising the club. We must make sure we get recruitment right, such a vital part of running a football club is getting recruitment right, finding new players.”
On the idea of signing Mbappe, who is set to join Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain this summer, he added: “I’d rather find the next Mbappe, rather than spend a fortune to buy success. It’s not that clever to buy Mbappe, anybody could figure that one out.”
Ratcliffe also discussed the potential redevelopment of Old Trafford, laying out plans to build a “state of the art” stadium with a capacity as high as 100,000.
