Ratcliffe and INEOS will acquire 25 per cent of the club (Picture: Getty)
Erik ten Hag insists he and Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘are on the same page’ after their first meetings to discuss Manchester United’s future.
Ratcliffe and INEOS sporting director Sir David Brailsford travelled to United’s training base at Carrington this week to meet with Ten Hag and his players.
The deal for INEOS to acquire 25 per cent of the Old Trafford club was announced on Christmas Eve with the minority takeover expected to be ratified by the Premier League in the coming weeks.
INEOS will assume immediate control of United’s football operations with major changes in the club’s recruitment department expected.
Brailsford was in attendance as United ended 2023 with a dismal defeat away to Nottingham Forest last Saturday in what was their 14th defeat of the season having already been dumped out of Europe.
Ratcliffe and INEOS are hoping to lift the club from their malaise, with ten Hag describing his first meetings with the group as ‘very positive’.
‘We had a long meeting, for many hours we sat together, on many issues we were on the same page,’ ten Hag told a press conference ahead of United’s FA Cup third round clash with Wigan Athletic on Monday.
Ratcliffe has been in Manchester for talks with ten Hag (Picture: Getty)
‘So very positive from both sides. it was very constructive and we are looking forward to working with each other.’
INEOS are expected to replace John Murtough as football director with Newcastle United sporting director Dan Ashworth thought to be the club’s preferred option to oversee recruitment at the club.
Ten Hag added he and those who will now oversee the biggest decisions at United ‘have had our debates’ over future plans, confident they will be in sync.
Asked how much will change in the short-term, ten Hag said: ‘We have to let it settle down, there are just coming in, they are introducing themselves, they have good ideas and we have to see what we can integrate.
‘In togetherness, we will work. But after one day, you can’t tell that.
‘They have given me a few [ideas], we have had our debates, our approach about strategies. We will come together.’
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