Manchester United might be forced to abandon striker transfer chase after strict warning

"There's room for improvement everywhere when we look at Manchester United - we will improve everything," said a candid Sir Jim Ratcliffe in his interview with Bloomberg.

"We must compete for the Premier League and Champions League every year. We need to be where Real Madrid is today, but we're not there at the moment and it will take time.

"I think they've done a fabulous job and there's an interesting statistic that compares Real Madrid and United. If you look at the 10 or 11 seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill retired...

"During that period of time, Manchester United's net spend on players - that is calculated by players they've bought minus the income from the players they've sold - is £1.1billion. United have not been mean with the chequebook, they've actually spent an awful lot of money.

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"Real Madrid over that same period have spent £200m net, which is surprising when you hear that because today they have a squad where six or seven players are valued over €100m.

"Manchester United doesn't have any players that are valued at €100m or more. And Real Madrid have built probably the finest football ground in the world, using the same chequebook.

"Because they've built the new Bernabeu using that £900m they've saved over United. You can see the quality of management at Real Madrid has been better than at United."

Real Madrid are the world's biggest football club and the most successful side in Europe, so Ratcliffe is right to assess how they've got there when looking to improve United.

It's no secret United have been a disaster in the transfer window for over a