It seems that the penalty shoot-out win over Coventry City has been the last straw for Man United part-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Given full responsibility for the footballing side of the business, Sir Jim sat at Wembley in disbelief alongside thousands of other Red Devils fans, as the Championship side came back from 3-0 down and only failed to get the win because of the most debatable of VAR calls.
There have been a number of late collapses from United this season with points often squandered in injury-time, but none can have been as galling as that FA Cup semi-final.
Man United to sell up to 12 players
If Erik ten Hag were hoping that the game could be his audition in front of the new regime and the millions watching worldwide, he failed spectacularly – again.
It still isn’t clear if the Dutchman has a future at the club or not, but Sir Jim has evidently seen enough.
According to Mirror Sport, as many as 12 United players will be available for transfer this summer, as the club look to really shake up the squad and get them out of their funk.
Marcus Rashford, Antony, Anthony Martial, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Sofyan Amrabat and Jadon Sancho are all named as players at risk of being sold.
Given the Financial Fair Play constraints that all clubs have to work under nowadays, the sales of the players named would be expected to bring in a pretty penny.
It’s worth saying too that none of those dozen have improved under ten Hag, and in Rashford’s case he’s evidently gone backwards.
A decent European Championship for him and others may force a rethink, however, if Sir Jim is intent on getting rid, the club may benefit financially from some ‘shop window’ performances that remind everyone why United signed the players in the first place.
