Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire who bought 25% of Man Utd shares, wants to know how the club threw $1.7 billion into failed transfer deals.
With the purchase of 25% of shares for $1.7 billion, Ratcliffe plans to manage Man Utd’s football segment, while the Glazer family still holds the commercial segment. According to Sun, before closing the investment, the 71-year-old billionaire asked the board of directors to explain the “evaporation” of an equivalent amount of money, with little success after Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
Man Utd’s failed transfers include Paul Pogba (109 million USD), Antony (104.5 million USD), Romelu Lukaku (91.7 million), Jadon Sancho (89.2 million), Angel Di Maria (73 million), Anthony Martial (54.4 million) or Donny van de Beek (48.9 million).
Since 2013, Man Utd has not won the Premier League once, only winning one FA Cup, two League Cups and one Europa League championship. Previously, under Sir Alex, the “Red Devils” won 28 titles.
Under coach Erik ten Hag, Man Utd spent a total of 457.2 million USD. Billionaire Ratcliffe is said to not prosecute the amount of money the team spent under the Dutch strategist, as he considered last season acceptable for Man Utd, when the team ranked third in the Premier League and won the League Cup. .
Before “putting down the money”, Ratcliffe discussed many times with co-chairman Joel Glazer about restructuring football, reforming the scale of the scouting network and player procurement at the club. The current jobs of Managing Director Richard Arnold, Director of Football John Murtough and other new Director David Harrison could be affected.
Ratcliffe was originally a chemical engineer, before becoming a businessman. In 1998, he founded Ineos. In 2021, this group will achieve revenue of 65 billion USD. Ratcliffe currently owns a fortune of $19.4 billion, and is the second richest person in the UK.
According to Forbes magazine, Ratcliffe is ranked 67th on the list of the world’s richest people, with a fortune of $18.2 billion. The 71-year-old billionaire also owns the football clubs Nice (France), Lausanne (Switzerland), the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team and a third of the Mercedes F1 racing team.