Today saw Sir Jim Ratcliffe attending his first Manchester United game since he struck a deal that will see him partially take over the club. An arrangement that was officially announced on Christmas Eve, Ratcliffe bought 25% of the club from the Glazer family for about £1.3 billion. He is expected to appoint a new team that will take over the club’s roster building and transfer policy.
But it won’t officially happen until the Premier League ratifies his partial takeover.
Ratcliffe spoke to reporters for the first time since the deal closed, and he was asked when he expects ratification to go through.
“Early to mid-Feb,” the INEOS Chairman responded. “Hopefully we don’t find anything dodgy on my CV! This is the first match for me since we got here. I am very excited to be here, but I can’t answer any questions really.”
Ratcliffe was also asked how long he sees himself being involved with MUFC.
“A few years. It has taken a few turns as you know but these things take some doing,” he answered.
“When did I first come to a game? When I was a kid. Quite young. Ten or something, it is 60 years ago.”
Once Ratcliffe is in place, and gets all his people on board, the roster overhaul will begin, so with that in mind, let’s do some United transfer talk. Hannibal Mejbri is set to go out on loan to Sevilla until the end of the season. According to The Athletic, Sevilla have beaten out Everton, in the race for the 20-year-old Tunisian.
The midfielder has a lot of promise, and United certainly do believe in him, having extended his deal until the end of 2024-25, but the loan agreement includes the right to buy him outright, in the summer, for €20m.
Another critical component of this deal (which is not finalized yet, but agreed to in principle) is United including a buy-back clause, which would then given them the option to re-sign him down the line, should United sell him this summer.
Oh by the way, there was an actual game today! United hosted Tottenham, and the final result was a 2-2 draw. Marcus Rashford scored, for just the fourth time this season, while Rasmus Hojlund made it two goals in two Premier League appearances, after taking a very long time to finally score in league play.
Manager Erik ten Hag had praise for both Rashford and Hojlund afterward.
“I hope they keep going, there is progress,” Ten Hag said of the strike force duo who have been much maligned this season.
“They are coming up with some routines and that is what you need, especially in the front line where a quick decision has to be made and in a split second you need the right decision so you need intuition.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager 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’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.