UEFA BLOCKED MAN UNITED TRANSFER OVER OWNERSHIP - RATCLIFFE

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Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said that UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership have prevented the club from signing a player from Ligue 1 side Nice.

Ratcliffe’s company INEOS bought Nice in 2019 before completing a deal to purchase a minority stake in United earlier this year.

While moving players between two clubs that share the same owners is not forbidden, Nice and United’s qualification for next season’s UEFA Europa League has raised issues around the clubs conducting business with each other in the transfer market.

UEFA rules state: “No individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition,” with control defined as: “Being able to exercise by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making of the club.”

Sources have told ESPN that United were interested in signing Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo.

“They’ve said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United,” Ratcliffe, who did not name the player in question, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.”

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said that UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership have prevented the club from signing a player from Ligue 1 side Nice.

Ratcliffe’s company INEOS bought Nice in 2019 before completing a deal to purchase a minority stake in United earlier this year.

Sources have revealed that United were interested in signing Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo.