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28th February 2024
10:47am GMT
Jim Ratcliffe 'dreams' of hiring French great Zinedine Zidane as the next Manchester United manager, according to reports.
The British billionaire, who recently bought a minority share in the Red Devils, has been plotting an overhaul of the underachieving club.
Ratcliffe has been unafraid of making changes behind the scenes after his minority takeover. He has hired Omar Berrada as the club's new CEO and pursuing Dan Ashworth to take over as Director of Football.
It would not come as a surprise if the managerial position was next.
Pressure is now building on Erik ten Hag, following United's disastrous 2-1 home defeat to Fulham on Saturday.
The Red Devils sit eight points off Aston Villa in fourth, having already crashed out of the Champions League at the group stage and hope of qualification now looking slimmer and slimmer.
French media outlet Foot Mercato has revealed that Ratcliffe is now eyeing a daring move for Zidane as United's next manager.
Zidane's last managerial appointment was with Real Madrid. He led Los Blancos to three consecutive Champions League victories and won La Liga before stepping down in 2018.
The France legend then returned to the Bernabeu dugout in March 2019 and captured a second title a year later. He has yet to manage another side since departing Real in 2021.
According to reports, Ratcliffe hopes to lure Zidane back into management by putting him in charge of a new look at Man United that at least from the outside, looks like it is willing to make a lot of changes.
INEOS believes one of the steps to bringing about this vision will be to recruit a new manager to lead this new era at the club, with Jean-Claude Blanc, the chief executive at the company a big admirer of Zidane.
Blanc previously tried to recruit the former Juventus star when he worked at Paris Saint-Germain.
Man United have tried getting Zidane in the past before, after the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021. However, the situation is believed to be different this time with a large amount of change at the club already underway.
Signing Zidane will certainly not be easy as the coach has been looking for the right project to launch the next phase of his managerial career.
One thing is for sure, though, the ball is well and truly in Ratcliffe and INEOS' court.
They will need to convince Zidane, or another elite manager, that this version of Man United is different.
The French coach will want assurances that he won't be walking into the same traps that previous managers at Old Trafford have experienced.
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