“Manchester United has become mediocre,” INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe told club fanzine United We Stand in December. “It is supposed to be one of the best football clubs in the world. We have to make some difficult and unpopular decisions. If you shy away from the difficult decisions, then nothing much is going to change.”
Ratcliffe also highlighted the club’s poor recent record in the transfer market as one of the main reasons for their on-pitch malaise, adding: “We’ve not been good enough at recruitment. And until we’re as good as anyone in the world, then it’s not good enough for Manchester United.”
Those strong comments would have been music to the ears of United fans ahead of the January transfer window. Ruben Amorim inherited a disjointed squad full of prima donnas from Erik ten Hag, and desperately needed the green light to start rebuilding it in his own image.
But bafflingly, he never got it. Amorim only completed one senior-level signing before the winter market slammed shut: 20-year-old Patrick Dorgu from Lecce.
INEOS failed their head coach, and the consequences will be severe. United have a mountain to climb to finish in the Premier League’s top half, and they can also forget about salvaging the season with cup success, because no amount of work Amorim puts in on the training ground will be enough to improve this rotten team.