UEFA has stopped Man Utd transfer and Liverpool should take advantage after Sir Jim Ratcliffe rant

It will be fascinating to see what transfer business Manchester United conducts this summer. It has spent the last decade making countless poor recruitment decisions but this is the dawning of a new era, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe having invested in the club and having taken charge of football operations.

However, even if United is being run more smartly that it was, it doesn’t mean it can sign every player on its wish list. One has been ruled out due to UEFA rules and this news could be of interest to Liverpool.

The Red Devils were reportedly interested in signing Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo, per The Athletic. The Ligue 1 club is owned by Ratcliffe’s company INEOS, though, which means the move cannot happen.

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It is not even yet certain if both United and Nice can both play in the Europa League next season, thanks to Ratcliffe’s ownership of the two clubs. According to the rules of European football’s governing body, no individual or legal entity can have control or influence over multiple clubs taking part in a UEFA competition. It needs to be satisfied that the two clubs are separate entities to maintain integrity.

Similarly, multi-club ownership groups are not able to transfer players between each other during seasons in which they are in the same competition, or during the first window thereafter. Ratcliffe was understandably disappointed at this, as he explained when speaking to Bloomberg recently.

“They’ve said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United,” he said. “But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.” Ratcliffe also admitted that he won’t be able to turn the club around overnight, and can’t “solve all the problems” at United immediately. “It will take two or three summer windows to get to a better place,” he added.

Liverpool supporters will like the sound of that. Their club may like that Todibo is available too. He is excellent on the ball, recording the second highest cumulative progressive ball carrying distance (towards the opposition goal) in Europe’s big five leagues this season, per FBRef. Todibo was also among the top three per cent of center-backs in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain for ball recoveries per 90 minutes over the last year, illustrating he is good at winning possession.

Of course, just because Nice can’t sell him to United, the rivalry with Liverpool means he may not be permitted by the club to move there either. UEFA rules at least make that a possibility though.

Liverpool.com says: It is correct that rules exist to prevent this sort of dealing between clubs within the same ownership group. Todibo looks a talent and him being unable to move to Old Trafford, at least within the next year, means he could prove to be the ball-carrying center-back the Reds need to replace Joël Matip.