French football expert Julien Laurens has highlighted his concerns over Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s decisions as owner of Nice amid his bid to take over Manchester United.
What’s the latest on Ratcliffe and Man United?
The Manchester-born businessman, who owns energy company INEOS, has launched another bid to acquire United from the Glazers.
Ratcliffe currently owns a controlling stake in Ligue 1 side Nice, but question marks have appeared over his running of the club, which may ring alarm bells for United fans.
Speaking on The Gab & Juls Show, Laurens highlighted Ratcliffe's decision to bring in cycling guru Sir Dave Brailsford as Director of Sport, who in turn made unsuitable signings for the club.
He said: "I think he started well. They went and got [Christophe] Galtier, for example, who I think for a club like Nice is good after Patrick Vieira was sacked. So you could see what they were doing, and I think that was quite promising. And then somehow, it changed.
"They went to get Lucien Favre as the manager, which was a huge mistake. You can think that he was at the club before under the previous ownership, he did really well. It just would have never worked with the squad that they were building and this kind of new, younger policy. That was the wrong choice.
"And then Sir Dave Brailsford, who was very good in cycling, obviously and had a lot of success there, started getting involved in Nice. He came. [He] became this unofficial sporting director type of guy, and that's when I think I had serious question marks about what Jim Ratcliffe is doing, really.
"Because why would you trust in Dave Brailsford, who knows nothing about football, to go and run a club like Nice? Then Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley, Kasper Schmeichel, all these weird signings from the Premier League came in."
Should United fans be concerned?
United fans may look at Ratcliffe's decisions at Nice with a sense of deja vu, having experienced similar problems under the Glazers and previous chairman Ed Woodward.
Under the Glazers, United recruited badly in both players and coaches, and Woodward being a key decision-maker was criticised as a result of his lack of footballing acumen.
Whilst there is no guarantee that Ratcliffe would follow a similar route if he was to take control of United, there may be fresh worries that similar mistakes from the past could repeat themselves if his consortium wins the battle for ownership, and Laurens' comments certainly shine a light on what may lie ahead if he is handed the reins at Old Trafford.