Ratcliffe says some Man Utd players not good enough

A number of Manchester United players are "not good enough" while some others are being "overpaid", the club's co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said on Monday as manager Ruben Amorim faces an uphill task to turn around the side's fortunes.

Ratcliffe gave his backing to Amorim, who took charge in November following the sacking of Erik ten Hag, even though the Portuguese has struggled to turn around the team's fortunes with United down in 14th place in the Premier League.

Since the 40-year-old Portuguese took charge, United have won five of 17 league matches and exited both domestic cups.

Thousands of fans protested about the club's ownership before Sunday's draw with Arsenal and British chemicals billionaire Ratcliffe attempted to address their concerns in a wide-ranging BBC interview on Monday, saying many of the problems were already there when he acquired a 25 per cent stake in his childhood club and took charge of football operations.

"We're buying Antony, we're buying Casemiro, we're buying (Andre) Onana, we're buying (Rasmus) Hojlund, we're buying (Jadon) Sancho... whether we like it or not, we've inherited those things and have to sort that out.

"For Sancho, who now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages, we're paying 17 million pounds ($21.87 million) to buy him in the summer."

Sancho, whose fee was 73 million pounds when he joined in 2021, is currently on loan at Chelsea while winger Antony, who cost 81.5 million pounds, is on loan at Spanish club Real Betis.

"Some players are not good enough and some probably are overpaid, but for us to mould the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time."

Ratcliffe has some sympathy for Amorim, saying the former Sporting coach is an "outstanding young