Sir Jim Ratcliffe facing long wait to seal Man Utd deal but billionaire set to keep under-fire backroom chief at club
SIR JIM RATCLIFFE may need to wait until next week to complete his Manchester United buy-in.
It had previously been suggested Ratcliffe’s £1.3billion purchase for a 25 per cent stake in the club would be sealed by now.
However, Telegraph Sport is now reporting there is no guarantee the deal will be announced before Thanksgiving on Thursday.
And sources close to the bid fear public confirmation may not occur until next week.
Regardless, Man Utd football director John Murtough appears set to keep his job while the club searches for a new permanent football director.
The club announced the departure of Richard Arnold from his position as CEO last week.
It comes with Ratcliffe set to make sweeping changes behind the scenes at the club.
Ratcliffe’s Ineos team is understood to want specialists to fill key roles given the Red Devils’ recruitment and long-term strategy struggles since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman and former Tottenham recruitment chief Paul Mitchell have both been linked with the role of football director.
There have also been links to Atalanta’s Lee Congerton, former AC Milan duo Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara and Andrea Berta of Atletico Madrid.
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However, the report adds there is no guarantee of Murtough leaving the position even once Ratcliffe’s purchase is completed, despite reports over the weekend suggesting otherwise.
The British billionaire will have to wait a further 6-8 weeks for a deal to be ratified by the Premier League before pressing ahead with restructuring plans.
But ultimately, the Glazer family will have the final decision in staffing matters due to them retaining a majority stake in the club.
The decision with Arnold is said to have come a deterioration of his relationship with Joel Glazer and an indication he had begun to disengage with the job.
Murtough meanwhile, is said to be showing no sense of this and remains a visible figure at the club’s Carrington training ground.
Indeed, he remains hopeful to make some staff additions of his own in the Red Devils’ recruitment set-up for scouting in both youth and senior teams.
One thing on the agenda for Ratcliffe is sorting out the future of Jadon Sancho who has been exiled from first-team training since his public spat with Erik ten Hag over his training performances.
There is reported to be interest from both Juventus in Italy and from Saudi Arabia.
Another item on the agenda will be investment in Old Trafford.
The club were slammed again after a piece of the ROOF fell off during Man Utd’s Women’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester City at the weekend.
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