Sir Jim Ratcliffe: Manchester United owner warns Real Madrid: It’s not so smart to buy Mbappe

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United‘s latest shareholder, has warned Real Madrid they may have made a mistake by signing Kylian Mbappe as he revealed the Red Devils transfer strategy for the coming years

The INEOS boss, who is Britain’s second richest man, has admitted that Manchester United‘s future will not involve spending big money on big-name stars, a trap the Premier League side have fallen into since 2013.

Ratcliffe dreams of reviving Sir Alex Ferguson‘s former glory days at Manchester United by bringing out players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney.

By doing so, he will usurp Manchester City and Liverpool‘s hegemony on the British game as the pair threaten to undo Ferguson’s legacy just one decade on from his decision to retire.

But he won’t buy his way to doing that he insists, as he wants the success of the club to be organically obtained, rather than artificially achieved, declaring he won’t sign star players like Mbappe.

He made the revelations to the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast about the French striker, who has scored 327 goals for club and country and has won the FIFA World Cup.

“I’d rather try to sign the next Kylian Mbappe,” Ratcliffe added. “Rather than spend a fortune trying to buy success. It’s not that smart to buy Mbappe.

“Anyone can realize that it’s much harder to find the next Mbappe, Bellingham or Roy Keane.”

Will Manchester United try to sign Jude Bellingham?

The new shareholder was about Jude Bellingham, the English footballer for whom Real Madrid paid over 100 million and the billionaire took advantage of the question about Bellingham to explain his policy in greater detail.

At the same time, he also ruled out a move for the LaLiga top scorer who could return to England in the future as he is just 20 years old and has a lot of football ahead of him.

“He’s a great footballer [but] it’s not where our focus is,” Ratcliffe said on Bellingham. “The solution isn’t spending a lot of money on a couple of great players. They’ve done that, if you look at the last 10 years.

“The first thing we need to do is get the right people in the right boxes, managing and organising the club. We must make sure we get recruitment right, such a vital part of running a football club is getting recruitment right, finding new players.”