Real’s duo facing the axe at Manchester

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s proposed 1.3 billion pounds investment is all but a done deal, but the official announcement is dragging on. Nevertheless, the British billionaire is busy preparing himself and his team for the moment when he officially takes over the sporting section and starts to sort out the situation. As revealed by Manchester Evening News, there are as much as 10 United’s players who will leave Old Trafford in June 2024, and some of them will be out much sooner. Like in January.

United could be out of Europe due to Ratcliffe's connections with Nice

Among those players are some unlikely names – Raphael Varane and Casemiro. The Real Madrid duo arrived in 2021 and 2022 and United forked out 112 million pounds for the pair. They were instrumental in Erik ten Hag’s first season, which ended with Carabao Cup trophy and a third place in the league, but failed to do any significant work so far in the season. Casemiro has been either out of form or injured (won’t be back until Christmas) while Varane has been even worse, he is down in the pecking order and is even below Johnny Evans (36). As reported before, the French international was not pleased about it, especially when he was not in the starting 11 even when Evens was injured, so his relationship with Ten Hag is very low. In fact, he is probably not going to wait until May 2024 and will seek a transfer in January. His wage thou (340,000 pounds a week) is a stumbling block for any club, even Bayern Munich, who is interested. Casemiro on the other side is injured and when he comes back, he will take his place in the starting 11 (unlike Varane), but his contribution for the team, considering his injuries, years of age and wage is also in question. He will probably be in line for a sale in June, if not before. A wealthy offer from Saudi Arabia would not go unnoticed.

Trapped on thin ice: Varane is at Ten Hag's mercy, everything reminds of the Sancho case

Out of other players who are apparently on the transfer list, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, goalkeeper Tom Heaton, Hannibal Mejbri, Anthony Martial and Johnny Evans are in the last year of their contract, and while Wan-Bissaka might extend (under certain conditions), Evans is likely to leave. There is an option to extend Mejbri automatically for one season, while Martial is likely to leave, considering his contribution, or to be precise, the lack of it. Amrabat is on loan and United have an option to buy out his contract in June, but he has yet to be a started and prove to Ten Hag that he is the right solution.  Christian Eriksen is in better form than Casemiro, but is on the wrong side of thirties, and this might be the last chance for United to earn some money on him.