Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s £70 million Man United concern proven right, but has been addressed

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s concern about Manchester United’s previous transfer strategy has been proven right and addressed this summer.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe expressed concerns about Manchester United’s transfer strategy during his visit to the club last March, before INEOS made its successful investment in the club.

The new minority owner cited the signing of Casemiro the previous summer as an example of what he considers questionable recruitment.

Ratcliffe believes that while United had a strong commercial operation, their investment in the squad could be significantly better.

In a presentation, Ratcliffe suggested that United’s choice of players in recent seasons has not always been wise, highlighting the £70 million purchase of Casemiro from Real Madrid.

The midfielder, who was 30 at the time, was given a four-year contract worth about £350,000 per week, according to reports.

After an excellent first season at the club, Casemiro dropped off last term and had his worst performance in a United shirt last weekend after making two mistakes for goals in a 3-0 defeat against Liverpool.

Ratcliffe was in the stands for that encounter and would have felt vindicated in his initial view despite likely having a bittersweet feeling while watching the game.

Fortunately, the British billionaire has constructed a team at Old Trafford that does not seem likely to make similar mistakes in the transfer window, and this was shown in their business this summer.

Despite being stretched, with Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrada only joining the club towards the beginning of the window, they addressed all of their major concerns in the market.

They did so with young players—Noussair Mazraoui, at 26, was the oldest signing—and on respectable wages. Matthijs de Ligt was the only player who was on very large wages at his previous club but agreed to a pay cut to join United.

While Ratcliffe’s comments on Casemiro’s signing were unfortunately proven correct in the worst way against Liverpool, it seems unlikely that those mistakes will be repeated under his new regime.

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