“Manchester United doesn’t have any players that are valued at €100m or more,” according to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who now owns a little more than a quarter of the club.
Ratcliffe, in a very wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, provided a lot of brutally honest assessments of his club, adding the point that one superstar (such as Kylian Mbappe for example) “isn’t going to solve the problem at Manchester United.”
The INEOS Chairman also said that the club will need at least two or three transfer windows to try and fix all their roster issues.
“I’m not confident that we’ll solve all the problems in the first transfer window,” he added.
Ok, well, you know what they say: “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” But let’s start to look at how the INEOS roster revamp can begin this summer, with the latest on the Jarrad Branthwaite saga.
United have submitted a bid of almost £43m, but Everton outright rejected it, demanding £70m. United are said to not be keen on raising their price.
If the reports are to be believed, and United told them to “be realistic,” then Old Trafford are willing to move on to other targets. More here via The People’s Person.
Speaking on moving on, let’s do that right now and focus on the next center back target, Leny Yoro of Lille.
The French club, according to Marca have set an asking price of £42-51 million for the 18 year old, as per a report in Marca. Real Madrid have reportedly already agreed personal terms with Yoro, beating out United, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool.
However, this story is not yet over.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.