Sir Jim Ratcliffe has 'next Roberto De Zerbi' ready to replace Erik ten Hag if he fails at Man Utd

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has the 'next Roberto De Zerbi' ready to replace Erik ten Hag if he fails at Manchester United.

Ratcliffe is on the brink of completing his purchase of a minority stake within United after fellow takeover hopeful Sheikh Jassim withdrew from the race.

Ratcliffe's offer is thought to be for a 25% stake worth £1.4 billion, as part of a staged buyout of the entire club.

Ten Hag is thought to have the British businessman's full support, despite a difficult start to the new campaign.

While the Red Devils boss is keen for Ratcliffe to solve three major problems at Old Trafford.

However, should Ten Hag fail to turn the tides at United, there is every chance he could be shown the door, after the odds were slashed on the Dutchman to be sacked last month.

Should that be the case, Ratcliffe, who will reportedly take on the role of sporting director at Old Trafford, could have a ready-made replacement in Francesco Farioli.

The Italian manager is currently in charge of Ligue 1 side Nice, who are also owned by Ratcliffe's company, INEOS.

The French side are currently unbeaten in the league and produced a shock victory over Paris Saint-Germain last month.

While Farioli has worked under the tutelage of Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi, who has been a revelation since taking over from Graham Potter in September 2022.

Explaining his relationship with De Zerbi, Farioli explained that he was hired by De Zerbi after he wrote an article online.

"One day, I wrote an article about Foggia on the internet on a website called Wyscout," Farioli told French newspaper L'equipe. "Shortly after, I received a congratulatory message from a member of De Zerbi's technical team."

"We started working together after a year and a half… we focused on football 24 hours a day. Sometimes we were still working on the computer at 2am. Those were good times."

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Topics: Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, Football, Premier League, Nice, Ligue 1, Roberto De Zerbi

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno