Jim Ratcliffe, minority shareholder of Manchester United and CEO of INEOS, looks on from the stands prior to the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Arsenal FC at Old Trafford on March 09, 2025 in Manchester, England.Jim Ratcliffe, minority shareholder of Manchester United and CEO of INEOS, looks on from the stands prior to the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Arsenal FC at Old Trafford on March 09, 2025 in Manchester, England.
Jim Ratcliffe, minority shareholder of Manchester United and CEO of INEOS, looks on from the stands prior to the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Arsenal FC at Old Trafford on March 09, 2025 in Manchester, England. | Getty Images
Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been reflecting on his first year at Old Trafford
Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sat down for a handful of wide-ranging interviews as he reflected on his first year since purchasing his stake in the club.
The Ineos CEO completed a deal in February 2024 to buy a 27.7 per cent stake in the Red Devils, in a deal worth a staggering £1.3bn. In December, he poured another £79.3m into the club to increase his stake to just shy of 29 per cent.
Since his arrival, United have sacked Erik ten Hag and hired Ruben Amorim. However, the club forked out hundreds of millions of to help Ten Hag bolster the squad during his two and a bit seasons at the club. It led to Ratcliffe admitting in an interview with the BBC that some of the players signed in recent seasons are overpaid while others are not good enough.
What did Jim Ratcliffe say about ‘overpaid’ players?
"If you look at the players we are buying this summer, that we didn't buy, we're buying Antony, we're buying Casemiro, we're buying Onana, we're buying Hojlund, we're buying Sancho," Ratcliffe told the BBC. "These are all things from the past, whether we like it or not, we've inherited those things and have to sort that out.
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"For Sancho, who now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages, we're paying £17m to buy him in the summer. Some 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. We've got this period of transformation where we move from the past to the future. There are some great players in the squad as we know, the captain is a fabulous footballer. We definitely need Bruno (Fernandes), he's a fantastic footballer."
How much money have Manchester United spent in the last five years?
Since the summer of 2020, only two clubs have spend more on transfer fees than United. Those clubs are Chelsea and Manchester City. The Blues outlay is a staggering £1.47bn pounds in the last five years while City have forked out £816m. United’s total still comes in at a staggering £773m.
In that time Chelsea have lifted the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup while United have won both domestic trophies as they lifted the Carabao Cup in 2023 before beating City to the FA Cup at Wembley last May. City’s transfer spend has certainly proved the most fruitful out of the three clubs who have spend the most. They won the treble in 2023 as well as lifting the Premier League trophy in the last four campaigns.
Tottenham Hotspur (£701m) have spent the fourth most on transfer fees in the last five years, followed by Arsenal (£659m), Aston Villa (£563m), West Ham United (£517m), Newcastle United (£480m), Brighton and Hove Albion (£477m) and Liverpool (£452m).
In other news, United are reportedly ‘willing to sell’ talented star compared to Clarence Seedorf for £70m after contract bombshell.