Manchester United are set to reveal more details about their stadium project on Tuesday with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe committed to creating a new Old Trafford. The British tycoon has not shied away from his ambitions to construct a cutting-edge new arena since his minority stake acquisition was confirmed in February 2024. The club has been considering options between renovating their iconic home or constructing an entirely new ground nearby, cooperatively with the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force (OTRFC).
Chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe, the OTRFC is set to present their insights alongside Ratcliffe at a London-based briefing regarding the stadium project. Ahead of this meeting, Ratcliffe spoke with former United skipper and OTRFC member Gary Neville on the Overlap podcast, admitting: "It's definitely deliverable but I think it needs to be set in context again.
"If you take the view that it's the greatest football club in the world, then if it's going to build a new stadium it should be a new stadium that's befitting the greatest club in the world.
"And also a stadium that befits the greatest league in the world because the Premier League is the greatest league in the world."
"And at the moment, if you look at the Premier League, we've got some great stadiums, but we don't have a Bernabeu, do we? And we don't have the new Nou Camp. We don't have that in the Premier League, although it's the greatest league in the world.
"And also, if you look at the north of England, the north of England has won 10 Champions League finals and London has won two, so there's quite a few reasons there to have the world's most iconic football stadium in the north of England at the world's greatest club."
Ratcliffe stated United "don't need any government funding" for a new stadium but highlighted that it must be part of a government-backed initiative to rejuvenate the area surrounding Old Trafford.
The Premier League giant enlisted Foster + Partners, established by Lord Norman Foster, last September to design a masterplan for the vicinity of Old Trafford in line with this grand renewal project.
"I won't say much more but Norman Foster, who also is a Mancunian and is the world's greatest architect in my view, has really created the most iconic – well you've seen it (the design) – absolutely incredible," Ratcliffe remarked.
"It would be marvellous if Manchester United could go down that road and in five years' time or six years' time have that stadium. It would be fabulous."