Ratcliffe gets two details about Man Utd star wrong after Liverpool comparison

Steve Pearson 11 Mar 2025 8:45 AM

Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Sir Jim Ratcliffe got two details about a Manchester United star wrong when justifying Ruben Amorim’s slow start at Old Trafford, and also suggested Liverpool would be struggling if in similar circumstances to what the Portuguese is facing

Ratcliffe recently conducted two interviews with BBC Sport and Gary Neville on The Overlap to address the state of Man Utd. Among the subjects touched on in the latter was Ruben Amorim and his underwhelming stint so far.

Amorim has returned figures 10 wins, seven draws and nine defeats from 26 matches. His win percentage of 38.46% is significantly below predecessor Erik ten Hag (54.69%).

Yet there are mitigating factors in Ratcliffe’s mind, not least United’s vast swathe of injuries that has deprived Amorim of many of his finest stars like Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount and Amad Diallo, to name just five.

And speaking about the inexperienced squad Amorim was forced into naming last time out against Arsenal, Ratcliffe pointed to young pair Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi when showcasing his point.

Unfortunately for Ratcliffe, he got both details about United’s striker sensation – his age and appearance count – wrong.

“Ruben, against Arsenal, he only had half a squad,” Ratcliffe told Neville. “How many players would most people recognise on the bench [on Sunday]? There was hardly a name that you’d recognise.

“The guy that we brought on, (Ayden) Heaven, he’s only 18, we only bought him three weeks ago from Arsenal.

“Then we had (Chido) Obi on there, who’s only 16 [sic – 17], I think, and he’s played once for United [sic – three times].

Chido Obi turned 17 last November and has already racked up three appearances for Man Utd’s first-team (Tottenham, Everton – Premier League, Fulham – FA Cup).

Ratcliffe makes Liverpool comparison

Ratcliffe went on to claim Amorim is being hamstrung by United’s absentee list and injury crisis, especially as many of those missing are among the club’s best players.

The United co-owner also suggested runaway leaders Liverpool along with Manchester City would also be struggling if denied the chance to select four of their eight highest paid players like Amorim currently is.

“If you look at the top eight most expensive players that we’ve got in terms of salary, four of them are not available to Ruben,” continued Ratcliffe.

“Now if you did that with Liverpool and Manchester City, that’s half the cream of your team gone. So I think I’ve seen progress.”

Liverpool’s eight highest earning players are Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold Alisson Becker, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Federico Chiesa and Diogo Jota/Darwin Nunez (tied for eighth).

It is fair to say Liverpool might not be where they are in the table if removing four of those stars from the equation. But whether they’d be languishing down in 14th is another matter entirely.