Manchester United’s new co-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliff, has said the club is not trying to sign PSG’s Kylian Mbappe; instead, they’re looking to sign the next Mbappe.

The Frenchman has been a subject of a transfer away from the capital Club, and while Real Madrid is the player’s preferred destination, you don’t want to rule out the possibility of a club like Manchester United trying their best to poach him.

"I think in a way what I would rather do is try to sign the next Mbappé than spend a fortune trying to buy success," Ratcliffe told Geraint Jones on his podcast. "It's not that clever buying Mbappé; anyone can figure that one out. What's much more challenging is finding the next Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, or Roy Keane."

The Manchester United hierarchy has been accused of spending unintelligently, something Sir Ratcliff wants to ensure doesn’t happen again. Marquee signings like Angel Di Maria, Paul Pogba, and Antony have struggled to impact the club, and the story of their former wonder kid Cristiano Ronaldo comes to mind too.

"The solution isn't spending a lot of money on a couple of great players," Ratcliffe said. "They've done that; if you look at what they've done the last 10 years, they have spent a lot of money on a couple of great players.

"The first thing you need to do is get the right people in the right boxes managing the club and make sure we get recruitment right; that's such a vital part of a football club, getting recruitment right." Someone must come in to make the right decisions; spending over $100 million on Antony hurts.

One key question everyone wanted answers to was well dodged by Sir Ratcliff: people want to know if the reforms from the top will affect Erik Ten Hag. He does have the Carabao Cup under his belt, but the club continues to blow hot and cold.

“You can’t ask questions like that,"  he said, and he also went on to rubbish claims he could be interested in Liverpool’s outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp: “I love Jurgen, the way he sets up and drives his players to their limits, but I am not thinking about him.”.