INEOS have 13 Manchester United players to build a squad around

As INEOS look into the football business model at Manchester United, their findings aren't exactly going to be a surprise. We already know what Sir Jim Ratcliffe thinks of the club's approach over the past decade. They have been the "dumb money" in the sport for far too long.

That is the phrase Ratcliffe used in 2019 when discussing his boyhood club and the previous four or so years have only strengthened that categorisation. United's spending is getting more haphazard, rather than more sensible.

You only need to look at the £85million lavished on Antony for evidence of that, or handing a 30-year-old Casemiro a five-year deal. The appointment of John Murtough as football director hasn't really led to a significant change of approach.

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That's why Murtough is likely to find himself in a new role once Sir Dave Brailsford has completed his review of the club's football operations. A sporting director will probably slot into the structure above Murtough.

The responsibility of that individual will be to start producing value for United, something they have badly lacked in a decade where around £1.4bn has been spent for such little reward. That was what Ratcliffe was getting at in 2019.

"[Ineos] never wants to be the dumb money in town, never, never. They [United] are in quite a big pickle as a business," he told The Times.

“They haven't got the manager selection right [Ole Gunnar Solskjaer], haven't bought well. They have been the dumb money, which you see with players like Fred."

To be fair to Fred, he recovered from a wretched first season to at least contribute during his time at Old Trafford, without ever looking like