Manchester United are looking to kickstart 2025 with a win against Liverpool having ended 2024 with a home defeat.
2024 didn’t quite go to plan as Ineos took control at Manchester United.
The FA Cup final win back in May was a huge moment for United but that hasn’t really been built upon.
Ruben Amorim was appointed to replace Erik ten Hag in November but the new boss is yet to really drag United forward.
Five defeats in the last six Premier League games mean United ended 2024 in dire fashion.
2025 starts at Anfield for United as Amorim and co head to Anfield, and fans will be hoping for a much better year overall.
Ineos must help make that happen and after a number of mistakes at Old Trafford, let’s take a look at how the other clubs under Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s are faring heading into 2025…
Lausanne-Sport
The first club in the Ineos portfolio was Lausanne-Sport, taking over the Swiss side back in 2017.
Lausanne-Sport have been through two relegations and two promotions since the Ineos takeover and are now sitting third in the Swiss top flight.
30 points from the first 18 games this season is a strong record and Lausanne-Sport are just one point behind league leaders Lugano.
Lausanne-Sport finished 10th last season and only narrowly avoided a relegation play-off at the end of last season.
Now flying high, Ineos are reaping rewards from keeping the faith in boss Ludovic Magnin with a shock title challenge now on the cards.
Lausanne-Sport may lose a key player though as 24Heures report that midfielder Alvyn Sanches is attracting major interest.
Sporting director Stephane Henchoz – yes, the former Liverpool defender – doesn’t want to lose Sanches whilst Lausanne-Sport look set to snub Simone Pafundi’s purchase option.
This could be a great season for Lausanne-Sport but Ineos will be charged not only with backing Magnin in January, but keeping his key players too.
United talents have trained with Lausanne-Sport and perhaps we will see some loan deals struck during this January transfer window.
OGC Nice
Ineos added OGC Nice in 2019, a much more significant purchase than Lausanne-Sport at the time.
This has been an up-and-down project for Ineos, seemingly taking one step forward and then one step in the opposite direction.
Nice have been through a host of managers in the Ineos years, including Patrick Vieira, Christophe Galtier, Lucien Favre and current boss Franck Haise.
Francesco Farioli left Nice for Ajax last summer and Haise was plucked from Lens as a replacement.
Nice now sit sixth in the Ligue 1 table, 13 points adrift of leaders Paris Saint-Germain but just three points behind second-placed Marseille.
Ineos have also faced fan resistance with protests taking place back in 2023, as noted by Get French Football News.
“I think at some point you have to be clear in what you’re saying. To maintain a project, maybe you need to speak less about objectives and work in silence to create an environment of competitors. Because the expectation is even bigger, and then after, people are frustrated,” captain Dante stated, as quoted by L’Équipe.
“The best thing to do is to prepare as quickly as possible for next season in order to start it well. Do you remember how many players came in at the end of the transfer window last summer? Six left, six arrived. It’s difficult in these conditions. Simply, we mustn’t make the same errors. If someone wants my opinion, the earlier we organise ourselves, the better it will be. If we want to aim higher, we have to anticipate things and put the values of the organisation in place,” he added.
Nice did reach a Coupe de France final in 2022 but lost 1-0 to Nantes in a disappointing defeat, but Aaron Ramsey was impressed with Ineos during his time at Nice.
The Europa League hasn’t been kind to Nice this season, claiming just two points from six games and there has been frustration over the lack of progress over the last five-and-a-half years.
Ineos taking control at United has now had an impact on Nice due to both clubs competing in the Europa League.
As noted by Made In Foot, Ineos still own Nice but ‘must act as if this were no longer the case’.
Ineos have attempted to satisfy UEFA by backing away from Nice, placing their shares in a trust which can’t be touched until this coming summer.
Nice can’t even contact Ineos CEO Jean-Claude Blanc anymore with UEFA placing stronger restrictions on multi-club ownership when two teams are in the same competition.
This is far from ideal and after a low-key summer transfer window which was almost entirely funded by selling Khephren Thuram to Juventus, questions are being asked.
Eurosport have highlighted the flagging project, even claiming that boss Haise and sporting director Florian Maurice are already considering leaving.
‘Since the arrival of INEOS in 2019, the Gym project has never advanced, or even regressed in its ambition and results. More concerned by the alarming situation of Manchester United, the centerpiece of the British group’s football section, Jim Ratcliffe is abandoning the Côte d’Azur,’ they wrote.
Ratcliffe has no plans to sell Nice according to L’Equipe but 2025 could prove a pivotal year with United needing so much attention and the Nice project seemingly not progressing as first hoped.
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