“Overpaid and not good enough” – Sir Jim Ratcliffe berates four Man Utd stars signed by Ten Hag | OneFootball

Sir Jim Ratcliffe candidly ripped into the signings Man Utd made under the guidance of their former manager Erik ten Hag.

The Dutchman spent two-plus years at Carrington, overseeing three different summer transfer campaigns before being shown the door last October following a poor start to the campaign. His replacement Ruben Amorim hasn’t exactly managed to improve the club’s status just yet, as evidenced by the club’s horrific league position, but at least the latter is still operating with a squad assembled by his predecessor.

But while Ten Hag has been out for months, the sporting and financial consequences of his tenure will live on for long, much to Ratcliffe’s dismay.

The billionaire and his group, INEOS, are now in charge of the club’s day-to-day operations after purchasing a minority stake from the Glazers.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe rues ‘overpaid’ Erik ten Hag signings

However, Ratcliffe explains how he ‘inherited’ financial burdens from the old regime in the shape of ‘overpaid’ players that the club is still paying the instalments for their hefty transfer fees in addition to large wages.

“If you look at the players we are buying this summer, that we didn’t buy, we’re buying Antony, we’re buying Casemiro, we’re buying Onana, we’re buying Hojlund, we’re buying Sancho,”  said the 72-year-old in his interview with the BBC.

“These are all things from the past, whether we like it or not, we’ve inherited those things and have to sort that out.

“For Sancho, who now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages, we’re paying £17m to buy him in the summer.

“Some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid. But for us to mould the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time. We’ve got this period of transformation where we move from the past to the future.

Among the five players mentioned above, four of them were signed during Ten Hag’s reign, with the exception being Jadon Sancho who arrived a year earlier.

On the other hand, Ratcliffe lauded in-form club captain Bruno Fernandes whom he considers a role model.

“There are some great players in the squad as we know, the captain is a fabulous footballer. We definitely need Bruno, he’s a fantastic footballer.”