"You need to speak less..." - Man Utd bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe criticised by his own captain at Nice

Manchester United bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe was criticised by Nice’s club captain Dante.

United’s takeover saga is in its sixth month and there is still uncertainty over who will take ownership of the Old Trafford club next season.

Petrochemicals billionaire Ratcliffe and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim have both submitted bids for ownership stakes in the club, but a final decision is yet to have been reached over a preferred buyer.

Indeed, Sheikh Jassim’s offer is believed to be in the region of £5billion but short of the Glazer’s £6billion valuation of the club.

Meanwhile, Ineos executive Ratcliffe has submitted a bid to purchase a majority stake, in a deal that controversially still allows both Joel and Avram Glazer to remain at United.

While Ratcliffe is reportedly the favourite to take the reins at United, another club in his vast sporting portfolio, Nice, have endured a difficult season under his ownership.

At the end of last term, Ratcliffe said that he wanted Nice to compete with Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title.

However, they are currently languishing in ninth, some 32 points adrift of league leaders PSG.

Dante critical of Nice ownership

In the mixed zone, after Nice’s 0-0 draw with Toulouse, 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.”

Following the departure of Julien Fournier, former Crystal Palace sporting director Iain Moody took charge of Les Aiglons’ window.

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: Football, Transfers, Manchester United, Premier League, Ligue 1, Nice

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.