Man United rocked by stunning Ratcliffe takeover claim; Greenwood return next after ‘massive hint’

Editor F365
Sir Jim Ratcliffe standing outside Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to

Sir Jim Ratcliffe will not buy a £1.3bn stake in Manchester United just to keep things as they are, with a ‘massive hint’ over Mason Greenwood’s return.

 

Darwin’s theory of journalistic devolution
It is easy to tell that Liverpool lost on Thursday evening because by Friday morning, Kylian Mbappe is top of the Liverpool Echo website.

There is little point getting into the weeds of that one again, suffice to say it is a rumour that Jurgen Klopp himself has rebuffed numerous times and at great length for a few different reasons.

But that is far, far, far better Liverpool coverage than the sort the Daily Star website vomits up with this:

‘Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez becomes laughing stock again for ‘missing one-yard handshake”

That is utterly atrocious, based entirely on the risible views of three ‘football fans’ on social media.

Ah yes, they fall under the Reach umbrella. Makes perfect sense. The pivot to TikTok influencers is here and it is f**king depressing.

 

Raw stake
‘GLOOM TOWN RAT’ screams the back page of The Sun, with Ken Lawrence’s exclusive claiming that ‘SIR JIM RATCLIFFE wants to know how Manchester United have blown £1.4BILLION in the transfer market’.

Frankly, it would be strange if he wasn’t at least curious about the myriad operational problems within his upcoming new investment.

‘Ratcliffe looks set to complete his £1.3bn buy-in for a 25 per cent stake of the Red Devils on Monday.’

There is a compelling argument to the contrary offered here:

But do go on…

‘And the British billionaire, 71, is planning a massive overhaul of the club’s player scouting and acquisition network as he takes charge of United’s football operations.

‘It is also understood the jobs of CEO Richard Arnold, football director John Murtough and director of football operations David Harrison are all in jeopardy for overseeing a succession of expensive purchases following the exit of previous chief Ed Woodward.’

In summary: man will not spend £1.3bn to buy part of a failing business and then keep everything as it is. Exclusively.

 

Jim freak
That story is, of course, reproduced on The Sun website. As is this fellow Ken Lawrence exclusive:

‘SIR JIM RATCLIFFE could swing the axe on THREE senior Manchester United chiefs after his £1.3bn buy-in is complete.’

It certainly is pretty much exactly the same claim, with ‘the jobs of CEO Richard Arnold, football director John Murtough and director of football operations David Harrison all at risk’. As would be the case with any under-performing individuals at a company that is subject to a change in ownership structure.

Beyond basically parroting your own exclusive to reel in any extra clicks, this sure is a weird closing line:

‘Brazilian Anthony – who only arrived in the summer – outcast Sancho and Martial are in line to be dumped in January.’

Antony arrived last summer. And Manchester United are not about to ‘dump’ three forwards they bought for almost £200m, all in the same mid-season transfer window. They would need to find willing buyers for a start, who are also happy to take on those wages.

 

Free Mason
‘Sticking his name in any headline generates clicks so we are never too far from nonsense about Greenwood returning’ reads one particular line elsewhere on this very website and The Sun website obliges with this:

‘Massive hint Mason Greenwood may rejoin Man Utd as Red Devils outcast continues to star for Getafe’

First thing’s first: he has one goal and two assists in eight La Liga games. ‘Continues to star’, does he?

And yeah, this ‘massive hint’ that he is headed straight back to Manchester United in triumph. It essentially boils down to Paul Mitchell being seen in the stands during Getafe’s win over Cadiz. And the ‘transfer guru’ has been linked with a role as Old Trafford sporting director if and when Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes those aforementioned structural changes.

Someone not employed by Manchester United watches a match featuring a player Manchester United were publicly forced to acknowledge they could not reintegrate into their first team.

It’s a ‘massive’ something, alright, just not a ‘hint’.

 

Rash decision
Thursday brought us the return of everyone’s favourite pastime: doing the whole Gareth Southgate ‘form’ thing while reacting to the latest England squad announcement.

Marcus Rashford was selected despite scoring a single goal in 15 Manchester United games this season. More relevant might be the goal he scored in England’s last game, or the goal and assist he provided for his country three competitive fixtures ago. But still. Where’s Raheem Sterling/Cole Palmer/insert another forward here.

Jason Burt of the Daily Telegraph was among the cohort who travelled to hear Southgate’s reasoning, writing this opening paragraph:

‘Gareth Southgate has warned Marcus Rashford that “with the big bucks comes the big pressure” as the forward faces questions over his club form and his discipline.’

And now hold on just one second. Leaving aside Southgate’s weird and unnecessary introduction of Rashford’s wages into the debate, does the 26-year-old really face ‘questions over his discipline’?

Form, absolutely. He has been notably poor for his notably poor football club. Reasons have been offered for that dip, both on and off the pitch. But ‘discipline’? Definitely not. One harsh red card in the Copenhagen defeat has not invited any sensible scrutiny over his temperament.

And no, the low-key post-Manchester derby gathering does not count. The fact Rashford reported for training the very next morning after quietly celebrating his birthday with loved ones instead of wallowing in his own self-pity answers any supposed ‘questions over his discipline’.

As said at the time, that might have been the sort of thing that will irk a strict disciplinarian manager – as Erik ten Hag soon proved – but Rashford did absolutely nothing wrong in that situation.

To call his form into question is completely fair and frankly necessary. To call his ‘discipline’ into question is nonsense.

 

Scouting for goals
‘Newcastle ready to bring in former Man Utd man to help replace banned Sandro Tonali’ – Daily Mirror website.

Mediawatch massively looks forward to seeing 60-year-old scout Marcel Bout fill in alongside Sean Longstaff.

 

Broken news
‘Neymar ‘will be DE-REGISTERED from his Saudi club Al-Hilal’s squad’ as his manager looks for a new signing’ – MailOnline.

The bloke’s injured for the season. Why wouldn’t they do that?

Mediawatch Mason Greenwood

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