Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said UEFA rules on multiple club ownership have prevented the club from signing a player from Ligue 1 side Nice.
Ratcliffe's company INEOS bought Nice in 2019 before closing a deal to buy a minority stake in United earlier this year.
While it is not prohibited to move players between two clubs that share the same ownership, Nice and United's qualification for next season's UEFA Europa League has raised issues around clubs doing business with each other in the transfer market. .
UEFA rules state: “No natural or legal person may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition”, and control is defined as: “Being able to exercise by any means an influence decisive in the club's decision making.”
Sources told ESPN that United were interested in signing Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo.
“They said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can't sell him to Manchester United,” Ratcliffe, who did not name the player in question, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “But that's not fair to the player and I don't see what that achieves.”
Sources told ESPN that United have decided that Erik ten Hag will remain as manager after a season in which the club recorded its lowest ever Premier League finish but won the FA Cup.
Ratcliffe said he is more focused on creating the right “environment” at the club, rather than the staff, as he tries to take United back to the top of English and European football.
“The coach is not the central issue at Manchester United,” said the INEOS boss. “It's a sports club. It needs to be competitive, it needs a degree of intensity, but with a supportive side because you're dealing with players who are relatively young. Historically it hasn't had that kind of environment.”
Ratcliffe expressed his support for Manchester City after the club launched legal action against the Premier League over associated party transactions (APT) rules.
The Premier League's APT rules, originally introduced in 2021 following the Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle United, were tightened in February in a bid to regulate clubs signing lucrative sponsorship deals with companies linked to their owners.
“I can understand why they question it,” Ratcliffe said. “You can understand why they would say they want an open market, a free market.”
The Labor Party has pledged to introduce a new football regulator if it comes to power after the UK general election next month, which would seek to impose greater controls on club spending to prevent financial mismanagement and protect club interests. fans.
Ratcliffe stated that he is not in favor of the proposed legislation and also criticized the “anchoring” system that Premier League clubs have agreed to trial next season.
A system called “Top-Down Anchoring” limits (or anchors) spending to a multiple of the lowest combined cash and television rights prize money a team is predicted to win.
“If you have a government regulator, at the end of the day they will regulate and that will not be good,” he said.
“'What would the anchor do?' “It would inhibit the best clubs in the Premiership. The last thing you want in the Premiership is for the best clubs in the Premiership not to be able to compete with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG.”
