Manchester United risk being banned from Champions League football next season if Sir Jim Ratcliffe completes his 25 per cent buy-in. Missing out would see the Red Devils forego a huge financial reward, reducing the likelihood of gathering the funds necessary to sign Benfica wonderkid Joao Neves.
United are already operating on the edge of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations after a sequence of big-spending transfer windows. Erik ten Hag was allowed to splash £178million on new signings during the summer, leaving little room to manoeuvre in January.
Neves is one of the players rumoured to be on the Dutchman’s radar, with reports indicating that United recently sent scouts to watch him in action for Benfica. But his staggering £104m release clause means that the Red Devils need to be in a healthy financial position to pull the deal off.
Ten Hag’s prospects of a drastic squad overhaul in the near future are already slim, and bringing in stars like Neves could border on impossible if Sir Jim’s minority ownership sees the club miss out on Champions League qualification.
The petrochemicals billionaire’s company, Ineos, already owns a controlling stake in OGC Nice. The French outfit are flying high in Ligue 1, sitting second in the table as the only unbeaten side remaining in the division.
UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules stipulate that Nice and United would not be permitted to compete against one another in next season’s Champions League. If both teams qualify, the team that finishes higher in the table would get the green light.
Benfica boss Roger Schmidt has labelled 19-year-old Neves ‘world class’, along with team-mate Antonio Silva, who is also believed to have admirers at Old Trafford. “The players make a leap every year,” he told Sportschau.
“This is an important part of the club’s DNA. Players like Antonio Silva and Joao Neves, who have just come through the youth ranks and are now first-team players for me, weren’t even known when I arrived here in 2022. Perhaps there is no club in Europe that has the same success in training world-class players.”
