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20th March 2024
11:02am GMT
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is to lead a new era at Man United, and one thing he wants to avoid, is more mistakes in the transfer windows as the club have blown huge sums of money on underperforming players.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013, every summer it seemed like United were spending enormous amounts of money on already-made stars like Di Maria, Paul Pogba, Alexis Sanchez, or Harry Maguire.
Even when they tried to invest in more youthful players it appears that they over-estimate their value, with Brazilian winger Antony being the most recent example of this.
None of the aforementioned footballers were able to fulfil their potential at Old Trafford or live up to their inflated price tags, and Ratcliffe wants to break this pattern with a new strategy.
He told the Geraint Thomas’ Cycling Club podcast: "The first thing we need to do is get the right people in the right boxes who are managing and organising the club, and make sure we get recruitment right - it is such a vital part of football today.
"The two people who are most focused on it would be Dave and myself, in terms of how we resolve it all.
"You have to believe with Manchester United, if we get all the details right, all the right people in the right boxes, doing the right things in the right environment, that sporting elite environment that the results will drop out the bottom."
Ratcliffe then hinted that rather than spending huge sums of money on super stars that already have a big reputation, United would pursue more unheralded stars – with the “next Roy Keane” touted by the 71-year-old.
"I would rather sign the next Mbappe rather than spend a fortune buying success. It’s not that clever buying Mbappe, anyone could figure that one out.
"More challenging is to find the next Mbappe or next Bellingham or next Roy Keane."
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