Man United’s new owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has lofty ambitions for the Manchester club to overtake Man City after recently acquiring a 25 per cent stake in the Premier League giants.
The INEOS CEO will take over the sporting side of Man United and is currently working to install the right people behind the scenes to take the Red Devils forward.
Man City and Liverpool are the two clubs Ratcliffe will be looking to emulate and the British businessman recently said he would love to knock both of them off their perch.
“They [City] are one of the best teams on the planet,” said Sir Jim via Sky News.
“We have a lot to learn from the noisy neighbour, and our other neighbour [Liverpool]. They are the enemy at the end of the day and there’s nothing I would like better than to knock both of them – or one of them – off their perch.”
These were fighting words from Ratcliffe and now Man City boss Pep Guardiola has responded to them.
Man City’s Pep Guardiola responds to Ratcliffe’s comments
When asked about Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments at his press conference on Friday ahead of Man City’s match with Man United at the weekend, Guardiola said via Fabrizio Romano: “They know the diagnosis of the club. If Sir Jim said they need two or three years to be there, who am I to say the opposite?
“I’m sure they’ll work to close the gap. I’m not the right person to know.”
It will take Man United many years to catch up to Man City given the dominance they have established over recent seasons and Guardiola will very likely not be at the Etihad Stadium by the time the Red Devils are ready to challenge them.
It is this period when Ratcliffe should have his Manchester club ready to challenge as with both Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp gone, that could leave things up in the air when it comes to who rules the Premier League.