Ratcliffe's first decision that puts Ten Hag in trouble

Manchester United ended a thirteen-month long soap opera on Saturday. With the sale of 25% of the shareholding to Jim Ratcliffe and his chemical company INEOS, a process of "strategic review" that lasted many months, that flirted with the entry of Qatar into the Premier League and that gave a glimmer of hope to the fans of the 'Red Devils', who came to dream of the Glazers' departure after ten years of failure, has come to an end.

Ratcliffe has been given the keys to the club's sporting organisation and it will be up to him to decide who will take the reins. He will also try to avoid overpaying for players, as has been the case in recent summers with Rasmus Hojlund, for whom 70 million was paid, and Antony, for whom 90 million was paid, when both Atalanta and Ajax would have been willing to sell for at least 20 million less.

As well as the sporting side, there is the non-sporting side, where there has been no shortage of trouble in recent times. Mason Greenwood, the academy's most promising player, was accused of attempted rape and abuse, which led to him being sidelined for more than a year and having to go out on loan to Getafe. To this must be added the indiscipline of Jadon Sancho, excluded for months for criticising Erik Ten Hag on social media. The Dutchman publicly reproached him for not being fit and not making an effort in training and Sancho denied him on social media and said that he was being used "as a scapegoat". The Englishman, for whom 70 million was paid, cannot train or use first-team facilities and, given his refusal to apologise, is likely to leave in the winter transfer window.

What he will do with Ten Hag

Ten Hag's case will also have to be dealt with by Ratcliffe, with the coach in doubt after it was leaked that much of the dressing room does not believe in his style of play and results are not proving him right. The team is out of Europe, having failed to make it past a group stage with Copenhagen and Galatasaray, 12 points off the pace and with more defeats at Old Trafford since Ferguson left than in the 26 years the Scot was at United.