Zinedine Zidane is Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘dream’ replacement for Erik ten Hag (Picture: Getty)
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS will do everything in their power to return Manchester United to the top of English and European football and have picked out Zinedine Zidane as their ‘dream’ manager.
Last week, British billionaire Ratcliffe officially completed his 27.7 per cent takeover of the club in a £1.3billion deal, putting an end to months of speculation.
Ratcliffe has wasted little time in outlining his lofty ambitions for United, revealing his plan to knock the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool off their perch in one of his first interviews – echoing Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous battlecry from 2002.
The 71-year-old has also made clear his preference to build a new stadium on the site of Old Trafford and is gearing up for a major overhaul of the current playing squad, with a flurry of comings and goings expected in the summer transfer window.
Crucially, though, Ratcliffe has not yet given his official backing to Ten Hag, allowing rumours to swirl over the Dutchman’s future, with the Red Devils languishing in sixth place in the Premier League after being stunned at home to Fulham last weekend.
According to French publication Foot Mercato, Ratcliffe will ‘do everything’ to return United to their former glory and would be prepared to show Ten Hag the exit door to make that happen – and Zidane has been identified as club’s ‘dream’ head coach by INEOS.
Jean-Claude Blanc, the CEO of INEOS Sport, has long been an admirer of Zidane and attempted to recruit the legendary ex-Real Madrid boss for Paris Saint-Germain during his time with the Ligue 1 champions.
Ratcliffe has not given his official backing to Ten Hag (Picture: Getty)
Zidane, who won three Champions League titles on the trot in charge of Madrid, has been out of a job since bringing an end to his second spell at the Bernabeu back in 2021.
However, the iconic 1998 World Cup winner, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game, announced that he would be keen to return to management at a film premiere this week.
Asked whether he has plans to return to coaching, Zidane replied: ‘Why not? Anything can happen.
‘But at the moment I’m doing something else. I am sure that I will return to the bench, I would like to coach again.’
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Meanwhile, at his press conference this afternoon, Ten Hag stressed that he was focussed on ‘today’ while working with INEOS on the ‘longer term’, despite growing uncertainty over his future at Theatre of Dreams.
‘I have to look at today and we have to work on the team, on the team’s development and the progress and, of course, to win every game,’ the United manager said ahead of the side’s FA Cup fifth round clash with Nottingham Forest.
‘That is also what we are doing. So, a lot of effort is in what is today but yeah, we also already look forward to longer term.’
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