Sir Jim Ratcliffe facing nightmare trying to offload ‘terrible Man Utd buy’ as major exit issue emerges
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is reportedly facing a nightmare over trying to offload a big-earning Manchester United star who has been labelled a ‘terrible buy’ in the first place.
Erik ten Hag was pretty much given free rein to bring in the players he wanted after taking charge at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022, but it appears that the addition of veteran Brazilian star Casemiro has now presented the club with a serious problem.
The Red Devils boss wants to bring in new signings in January to reboot the club’s season after a woeful first half of the campaign that sees United out of Europe completely and sitting eighth in the Premier League table.
However, it’s common knowledge that Ten Hag needs to sell players first in order to bolster the club’s transfer budget.
One such player United are looking to offload is Casemiro, who former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Carragher feels should never have moved to Old Trafford in the first place.
Casemiro has made 63 appearances for the Red Devils since leaving Real Madrid to join Ten Hag’s United’s revolution, registering 11 goals and seven assists.
However, Carragher has not been impressed, saying: “When you look at Man United buying Casemiro – I don’t care how well he did last season – that’s a terrible buy, from a business and club point of view. That’s just a panic”
“£70million on a guy who’s 30, 31 on a five-year deal, on massive money. I think he’s on the way down now… who’s going to sign him?”
“You look at Ten Hag now, basically 60-70 per cent of the players he’s bought – they’re either from the Dutch League, or he’s worked with them before. So you know he’s got an unbelievable amount of power at the club. It hasn’t worked, I think it’s the same with Jose (Mourinho), (Louis) van Gaal, other people.
“And a manager should have an input into signings,” he continued. “I’m not saying a manager should not know who they’re signing. But a manager shouldn’t be allowed to just go buy who he wants.”
Casemiro salary a big issue for any club
Casemiro is currently being tipped to join either French giants PSG or move to the Saudi Pro League.
However, The Sun reports that Ratcliffe, who is taking over football operations at Old Trafford after taking a 25 percent stake in the club, has suffered a blow over his plans to sell Casemiro.
The British billionaire has been made aware of Casemiro’s £350,000-a-week salary, while the player also has two-and-a-half years left on his Old Trafford contract.
There are not many clubs, if any, who would be willing to pay that much for a player who will soon be turning 32 and has also struggled badly with injury issues this term.
Casemiro is, however, back in full training for Monday night’s FA Cup third-round trip to Wigan and could feature against the Latics.
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