Sir Jim Ratcliffe was once criticised by his own captain at Nice as Man United deal edges closer

Sir Jim Ratcliffe was once criticised by his own captain at French side Nice.

The British billionaire and INEOS boss is set to complete a 25% purchase of Manchester United, with an announcement set to be made on Sunday afternoon.

With Ratcliffe and his INEOS team set to take over the football operations at the Old Trafford club, another club in his vast sporting portfolio, Nice, endured a difficult season under his ownership during the 22/23 campaign.

At the end of the 21/22 season, Ratcliffe said that he wanted Nice to compete with Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title.

Back in May, club captain Dante was critical of the club’s hierarchy, including Ratcliffe’s ownership.

As per L’Equipe, Dante said: “I think at some point you have to be clear in what you’re saying.

“To maintain a project, maybe you need to speak less about objectives and work in silence to create an environment of competitors. Because the expectation is even bigger, and then after, people are frustrated.

“The best thing to do is to prepare as quickly as possible for next season in order to start it well. Do you remember how many players came in at the end of the transfer window last summer? Six left, six arrived.

“It’s difficult in these conditions. Simply, we mustn’t make the same errors.”

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Dante continued: “If someone wants my opinion, the earlier we organise ourselves, the better it will be. If we want to aim higher, we have to anticipate things and put the values of the organisation in place.

“When the coach (Lucien Favre) arrived, we said in two years that we would always be in the Champions League. It doesn’t work like that. Ligue 1 is very difficult.

“We lost 10 players, 10 arrived. The teams in the semi-finals of big competitions play together for three, four years. We changed everything last summer. There is a lack of coherence somewhere. I am sorry to say that.

“To be more concrete, how many players have been consistent this season? The response is simple. A competitive team has 12, 13, 14 players at the top level.”

Topics: Nice, Manchester United, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Football

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.