Ratcliffe’s Manchester United project faces defining test

Billionaire must cull to increase budget and embarks on crucial summer without clarity over next season’s manager

As a self-made man Sir Jim Ratcliffe may relish his role this summer as chief barker in Manchester United’s push to sell so they can upgrade the squad. The ruthless arena of the transfer market will be a serious test of his new United era and a rude awakening could await. With funds shrunk from the £200m-plus of previous windows to a minuscule base sum of about £35m, the billionaire waits for the window to open on 14 June knowing business must be drummed up to sizeably increase the budget.

Ratcliffe seeks, preferably, to trade players of high value who will also relieve the books of their lucrative salaries. Having to offload squad members before recruiting a better quality of footballer is the basic tenet of team building that has not previously concerned mega-bucks United. Now, profitability and sustainability rules have ended the splurge years as an age of austerity hits the record 20-times champions, as it does other clubs.