Sir Jim Ratcliffe has pumped £79million into Manchester United to increase his stake in the club – but that won’t aid Ruben Amorim’s January plans.

The INEOS chief paid around £1.2billion for 27.7 per cent of the club earlier this year and agreed to invest £237m as part of the deal. It has now been confirmed that a final payment of £79m has raised his shareholding to 28.94 per cent, which is detailed in a filing listed on the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The investment of nearly £80m had been earmarked for infrastructure but will be used across the club, but not necessarily as part of the transfer budget for the New Year.

Amorim arrived several weeks ago and has had to work with the squad he inherited from Erik ten Hag. The Old Trafford hierarchy opted to back the former manager and gave him well over £100m to spend in the summer, which saw the likes of Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee arrive.

Despite those investments there are still serious areas of the team that need addressing. Amorim though will have to be shrewd in the market if he wants to bring in new faces come January with a lack of funds available.
Amorim’s time at Sporting Lisbon has meant that their star marksman, Viktor Gyokeres, has been among those linked with a move to Manchester. The frontman will come at a serious cost with United more likely to pursue him in the summer, not next month.

The new Red Devils boss will be tasked with getting the most from his current crop of players, several of whom are performing below their best levels. Amorim has also maintained that his first priority won’t be centred around who will come and go.

He said: “We have international players, they are good players and we need time to teach our idea and then we will see. Because this is a massive club. If you don’t win, the coach goes, the players go. We have to improve as a team, we have to arrange a lot of things in our club before thinking about just buying or selling players. There’s a lot to do, so let’s focus on improving our players.”

Ratcliffe himself has also put in a number of measures that have been geared around raising money for the Manchester outfit. The 72-year-old made the unpopular decision to raise matchday ticket prices to £66 per game – with no concessions for children or pensioners. That came after he made more than 250 of the club’s staff redundant and ended Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial contract.