Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos regime’s ‘fixing’ of a past transfer ‘mistake’ from John Murtough has only come to the major benefit of Michael Carrick at Manchester United.
Whether it was former chief executive Ed Woodward or former football director John Murtough at Manchester United, the Red Devils’ transfer history was a mixed bag.
United struggled to effectively navigate the market in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill era and Ineos’ arrival has felt like a serious course correction at the club.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s regime has not pulled off everything right at Man Utd, but last summer’s transfer window at Old Trafford showed what they did do right.
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John Murtough’s Man Utd prediction for Andre Onana shows what Ineos were left to fix and what Michael Carrick avoided
John Murtough was football director at Manchester United at the time that the Red Devils dropped a hefty transfer fee to sign Andre Onana from Inter Milan.
Man Utd agreed a deal worth £47.2m to land the Cameroon international in 2023 and the replacement pick for David de Gea turned out to be a disastrous transfer.
Murtough, however, argued that Andre Onana was the “right profile” fit for the Red Devils and had a major prediction for the player’s future at Old Trafford as well.
“He is already one of the world’s best goalkeepers and at the age of 27, we firmly believe that he can develop even further over the coming years,” he said, as per Manchester United’s official website in 2023.
Onana, who is now on loan at Super Lig side Trabzonspor, proved to be a real headache for both Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim with his howlers for United.
Ineos, to their credit, even decided to stick with the 30-year-old former Ajax and Inter Milan star last season for Onana to prove them wrong between the sticks.
However, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s regime set the stage for last summer to fix another mistake from United’s past by offloading Onana from the Premier League club.
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Michael Carrick’s time with Senne Lammens shows Man Utd’s step in the right direction after the Andre Onana flop spell
Michael Carrick’s arrival at Old Trafford in January was another surprising twist and turn in the 2025-26 Premier League campaign after Ruben Amorim was sacked.
The 44-year-old United legend has been pushing for a Premier League top-four finish and Senne Lammens has stepped up in a major way in his debut season.
Senne Lammens had established himself under ex-United manager Amorim this season, but his confidence has been growing stronger since last summer’s move.
The 23-year-old Belgian shot-stopper showed Ineos’ decision to take full control of the transfer business and to make the signing that they wanted for the position.
Amorim wanted Emiliano Martinez from Aston Villa, but Ratcliffe’s regime avoided their very own Murtough and Erik ten Hag situation over an Andre Onana-type signing.
Whether or not Carrick is made the next permanent Man Utd manager, Ineos’ Lammens signing is the definition of course correcting in the best way possible.
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