Sir Jim Ratcliffe has emphasised the importance of recruitment in rebuilding Manchester United.
Losing over £100m per season is a trend which is completely untenable long-term in any business or sporting organisation.
Speaking alongside Gary Neville on The Overlap, Sir Jim Ratcliffe issued the ultimate admission over why cost-cutting has gone so far at Old Trafford.
The Manchester United part-owner revealed that the way things were going when he arrived, the club would have gone bust in November 2025 – which nobody wants.
So now, United are going about rebuilding from the ground up, with the squad among the priority areas to fix considering the impact its performance has on revenue.
With a brand new United stadium to be built, success on the pitch is vital.
Now Ratcliffe has been discussing the squad and the job Ruben Amorim is doing.
Photo by Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images
Photo by Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images
Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Manchester United players are ‘not good enough’
During the interview, Ratcliffe admitted that the squad currently at the disposal of Amorim is a mid-table squad. With the current wage bill being at that level when accounting for the players Amorim has in the squad.
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“If you really look at Ruben Amorim’s squad, I think he’s doing a very good job… He’s an excellent coach and will stay at Manchester United for a long time”, he told Neville.
Later, speaking with the BBC, Ratcliffe admitted that the squad is not good enough and it would take time for him and Ineos to create a squad in their image with the new recruitment philosophy.
“Some players are not good enough and some probably are overpaid… but for us to mould the squad that we are fully responsible for and accountable for, will take time.”
Ratcliffe is right in that the squad isn’t fit for purpose with the vast majority still mistakes made by the prior footballing department. So Ineos have a big job this summer, with Ratcliffe admitting that Amorim will have a budget in the transfer window.
“There WILL be a budget for him [Amorim this summer]. I’m not going to disclose it. Of course, that budget changes depending on who he might decide to sell because that would supplement the budget.”
Every Ineos signing at Manchester United is positive
With Ratcliffe once again suggesting recruitment before his time is a major problem with the club, it is worth looking at the business he has done since taking charge.
With Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada taking the helm, the transfer business has been much better already, with fees and wages being much more reasonable.
Evaluating every Manchester United signing under Ineos
Player Fee Wage Grade
Ayden Heaven £1.5m £4k-a-week A
Chido Obi N/A N/A A
Diego Leon £7.5m N/A N/A
Joshua Zirkzee £38m £105k-a-week C
Leny Yoro £52m £115k-a-week B
Manuel Ugarte £42m £120k-a-week C
Matthijs de Ligt £42m £195k-a-week B
Noussair Mazraoui £12m £135k-a-week A
Patrick Dorgu £25m £40k-a-week B
The list of United’s top earners in wages is dropping with the recruitment seeing younger players arrive, and the players earning the most are ones the club would love to get rid of this summer.
United’s top performers – on the majority – this season have been Ineos recruits and with this summer is expected to be even better with plenty of time for the recruitment team to have planned.
Things are bad right now, but in the future, there are signs that things will improve.