Manchester United have been blocked by Uefa from signing Jean-Clair Todibo from Nice this summer.
United’s new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe also has a controlling interest in the French club but Uefa’s crackdown on multi-club ownership means that teams who have qualified for the same competitions are also barred from doing transfer deals with each other.
The situation has forced United to abandon efforts to sign Todibo, who had been identified as a replacement for the departed Raphael Varane.
Ratcliffe did not name Todibo when discussing the issue in an interview with Bloomberg but Telegraph Sport understands the £40 million rated 24-year-old is the player the Ineos billionaire was referring to. Nice would still be free to sell Todibo to one of United’s Premier League rivals.
“They’ve said we can sell him to another Premiership club but we can’t sell to Manchester United,” Ratcliffe said. “But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.”
Telegraph Sport understands Ratcliffe has challenged the situation with Uefa but European football’s governing body are determined to drive a hard line and ensure they are not seen to be favouring certain clubs.
United and Nice have been cleared to play in the Europa League next season but only because Ratcliffe has agreed to put the French club into a blind trust under Uefa’s new clampdown on multi-club ownership.
Uefa’s rules bar any organisation or individual from having “decisive influence” over the running of more than one club in the same competition, which Ratcliffe is deemed to have. Ratcliffe believes multi-club ownership can be a good thing.
Man Utd have a net budget of around £50million
With Todibo no longer an option, United have been busy pursuing other deals. They have agreed personal terms with Jarrad Branthwaite but Everton last week rejected an opening bid worth £43million including add-ons for the England defender.
Everton value Branthwaite around £75million which is understood to be considerably more than United are willing to pay.
United are also one of several leading clubs bidding for the highly rated Lille centre-back Leny Yoro. Liverpool and Paris-St Germain also want to sign Yoro but it is thought likely that the 18-year-old will end up at Real Madrid.
If one of Harry Maguire or Victor Lindelof – who has interest from Fenerbahce – leaves Old Trafford this summer, United are expected to sign two centre-backs.
A holding midfielder and a striker are the other main priorities, with United preparing to trigger the £33.8million release clause in Netherlands forward Joshua Zirkzee’s contract with Bologna.
United are in talks with Zirkzee’s camp and, while they maintain they have other options as well, there is serious interest in bringing the 23-year-old to Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe is adamant United will not address all of their squad issues this summer. United have a net budget of around £50million to spend plus whatever they can raise from player sales with the club hoping to offload the likes of Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho, each of whom is valued at £40million.
“I’m not confident that we’ll solve all the problems in the first transfer window,” he told Bloomberg. “It will take two or three summer windows to get to a better place.”