Man Utd make EMBARRASSING Mainoo and Garnacho request to Man City

Robin Bairner

• 26 Oct 2024 12:10 BST
• 2 min read

Manchester United owners Ineos have undertaken cost-cutting measures at Old Trafford in recent months, with the tight-fistedness of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s regime plunging to a new level with a request made to Manchester City over Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho.

Mainoo and Garnacho are both expected in Paris on Monday to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony, but United were reticent to foot the cost of flying the pair to the French capital for the awards.

According to the Daily Mail, this led the Old Trafford club to making a request to City to ask if the duo could join the flight of the Premier League champions to Paris.

Pep Guardiola’s side, who have chartered a private jet to shuttle their squad of players who are involved in the ceremony across the Channel, told the Red Devils that there was no space for Mainoo and Garnacho among their delegation.

Compared

Kobbie Mainoo

M, DM (C)

Man Utd

Kobbie Mainoo

M, DM (C)

Man Utd

VS

Alejandro Garnacho

F (L), M (RL)

Man Utd

Alejandro Garnacho

F (L), M (RL)

Man Utd

2024/2025

Season Statistics

2024/2025

10	Appearances	13
0	Goals	5
0	Assists	3
4	Key Passes	12
16	Tackles	12

This comes in a period when Man Utd are making dramatic cutbacks in their spending.

Since Ineos took over, Ratcliffe’s regime has cut 25% of jobs at the club in a bid to make dramatic savings, while the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson was recently stripped of his £2 million-per-year wage to be an ambassador for the club.

Which Premier League players are nominated for the Ballon d’Or?

Garnacho and Mainoo are the only Man Utd players who have received nominations for any of the available awards, with both up for the Kopa Trophy.

On the other hand, City’s delegation dwarfs them, with eight players from the Premier League champions up for nomination.

For the Men’s Ballon d’Or, there is Ruben Dias, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and Rodri are all in the running for City while in the women’s, Yui Hasegawa, Lauren Hemp and Khadija Shaw have been nominated.

Arsenal also have a sizeable number of nominees, with Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba nominated for the men’s award.

Despite the best attempts of France Football to keep the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner a secret, the winner of the award has already been announced.