'Not fair' - Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirms Manchester United summer transfer blow with deal off

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has confirmed Manchester United will not be able to sign any players from Nice due to Ineos also owning the French side.

United are looking to sign a centre-back this summer and had explored the possibility of adding Jean-Clair Todibo to their backline, but a move has now been ruled out to to their involvement with both clubs. Ineos have been in charge of the French side since they completed their takeover back in 2019, while their initial purchase of a 27.7% stake in United was completed in February, with them taking control of football operations from the Glazer family.

Under current Uefa 'multi-club ownership' rules the two clubs, who will both be competing in the Europa League next season, are unable to directly trade players between each other, though a player such as Todibo could still move to another Premier League side this summer.

Although he did not directly name the player in question, Ratcliffe confirmed that any moves for a Nice player were off the table this summer. “We've got a player in Nice who was really interested in joining Manchester United and I think he probably has the capability of being in the Manchester United squad,” Ratcliffe told Bloomberg. “They’ve (UEFA) said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United. But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.”

United have switched their focus to Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite as they look to reinforce their backline this summer, though the co-owner admits it will likely take a few windows before they are able to properly overhaul their playing squad.

He added: “I’m not confident that we’ll solve all the problems in the first transfer window."