£47m Man United figure exposes true extent of problem Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to change

While Sunday’s point at Anfield represented a positive step forward for Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United, this Premier League campaign has been disastrous thus far.

A much-improved performance against league leaders Liverpool yielded a deserved share of the spoils, but the harsh truth remains that, after 20 games, United are closer to the bottom three than they are the top four, and barring a remarkable turnaround in fortunes over the course of the next 18 games, United will be without UEFA Champions League football again next season, potentially absent from any European competition.

Such an absence will be impactful for United’s finances and the plans that they have to invest in the on-pitch product, with Amorim having already alluded to profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) impacting what the club will be able to do in the market in January. It will be a case of players out before any new arrivals can come through the door at Old Trafford.

With Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS now firmly in control of football matters behind the scenes after the purchase of a minority stake in the club from the Glazers 12 months ago, the focus has been on a change of strategy when it comes to recruitment, one that follows the model of the likes of Brighton & Hove Albion, where talent is identified earlier for a reduced sum, one of the reasons why they identified Dan Ashworth, one of the architects of Brighton’s model, to spearhead the same at United as sporting director.

But Ashworth, after a matter of months after arriving from Newcastle United, has now left and the first year of recruitment against value for money has not been a good one for INEOS.

According to figures presented by football finance expert Kieran Maguire, author of