Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s BRUTAL takedown of 'dumb' Man Utd flop

Tom Weber

• 2 May 2023 19:02 BST
• 3 min read

An old interview given by prospective Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has resurfaced in which he tears into a current player at the club.

The INEOS chief and owner of French club Nice has been embroiled in a heated battle with Sheikh Jassim for the ownership of Manchester United in recent months. He appeared to have the upper hand in recent negotiations as he offered the unpopular current owners a lifeline with his proposed deal.

Ratcliffe presented the Glazer brothers with the chance to retain a combined 20 per cent stake in the club last week, but any official announcement as to who has won the ownership struggle has not been made.

READ: Man Utd takeover: Sheikh Jassim makes fresh move to secure deal with Glazers

On the contrary, Sheikh Jassim is determined to not let Ratcliffe prevail, and he is understood to be open to the possibility of bypassing any intermediaries and taking his offer directly to the Glazers.

Ratcliffe, for his part, has previous with Manchester United and if an interview with the Times from 2019 is anything to go by, his potential ownership of the club may not bode well for midfielder Fred.

What did Ratcliffe say?

In said interview, Ratcliffe spoke about the mismanagement of United and how the signing of Fred was emblematic of it. At that point, the Red Devils were still in their 'banter era' and Ratcliffe did not hold back.

"They haven’t got the manager selection right, haven’t bought well," Ratcliffe asserted. "They have been the dumb money, which you see with players like Fred. United have spent an immense amount since Ferguson left and been poor, to put it mildly."

READ: Sancho ready to 'flee' Man Utd to make sensational Dortmund return

“Shockingly poor, to be honest," he added. "We have a different approach here [at Nice] to be moderately intelligent about it. Try to do it more grassroots, trying to locate young talent."

For all his flaws, Fred has been improved under Erik ten Hag and Ratcliffe's opinion may have changed over the past five years.