Manchester United might be forced to abandon striker transfer chase after strict warning

"There's room for improvement everywhere when we look at Manchester United - we will improve everything," said a candid Sir Jim Ratcliffe in his interview with Bloomberg.

"We must compete for the Premier League and Champions League every year. We need to be where Real Madrid is today, but we're not there at the moment and it will take time.

"I think they've done a fabulous job and there's an interesting statistic that compares Real Madrid and United. If you look at the 10 or 11 seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill retired...

"During that period of time, Manchester United's net spend on players - that is calculated by players they've bought minus the income from the players they've sold - is £1.1billion. United have not been mean with the chequebook, they've actually spent an awful lot of money.

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"Real Madrid over that same period have spent £200m net, which is surprising when you hear that because today they have a squad where six or seven players are valued over €100m.

"Manchester United doesn't have any players that are valued at €100m or more. And Real Madrid have built probably the finest football ground in the world, using the same chequebook.

"Because they've built the new Bernabeu using that £900m they've saved over United. You can see the quality of management at Real Madrid has been better than at United."

Real Madrid are the world's biggest football club and the most successful side in Europe, so Ratcliffe is right to assess how they've got there when looking to improve United.

It's no secret United have been a disaster in the transfer window for over a decade and fans were desperate for someone to come in and overhaul the recruitment strategy. Ratcliffe has done that since acquiring a minority stake but it won't be an overnight fix.

It's bound to take time to rebuild United and change the club's reputation in the transfer market. For far too long, United have overpaid for players, spent millions on agent fees and struggled to offload members of the squad who have been deemed surplus to requirements.

Just as Ratcliffe said in his interview, United's net spend on players is horrendous considering just five trophies have been won in the last 11 years. A new footballing structure has been created to prevent the same mistakes and the new policy has come into effect immediately.

United will operate differently in this summer transfer window and that means they could walk away from negotiations with Everton over Jarrad Branthwaite, who the Toffees value between £70m and £80m.

Last week, Everton rejected United's opening bid of £35m plus £8m in add-ons for Branthwaite and the two clubs remain some way apart in their valuation. It would be worth going as high as £60m for the defender but anything more and United might be forced to look elsewhere.

Continuing to overpay for players would send the wrong message in the transfer market at a time when the new ownership at Old Trafford is trying to distance itself from the old regime.

The new approach could impact talks for Branthwaite and a potential deal for Joshua Zirkzee, who was Bologna's top goalscorer last season as they defied the odds to finish in the Italian top four.

A product of Bayern Munich's academy, Zirkzee joined Bologna in August 2022 and began to find his groove last season, scoring 11 goals and recording five assists in the league.

Zirkzee is believed to have a release clause of £34million, with United, Arsenal and AC Milan all said to be interested, but the stumbling block could be his agent's fees.

The 23-year-old is represented by Sports Invest UK, the agency led by Kia Joorabchian, who was responsible for orchestrating Carlos Tevez's departure from United.

It's claimed Sports Invest UK want €12m to broker a deal for Zirkzee this summer and that is the sort of agent fee Ratcliffe will be reluctant to meet. That striker's release clause is value in the current market but the caveat is any deal would come attached with a large agent fee.

United need another striker and might deem the €12m agent fee as a necessary hit to take, but that might undermine the efforts to change the club's reputation in the transfer market.

Ratcliffe and his hierarchy have a few footballing dilemmas to ponder.