The 10 players Sheikh Jassim wanted Man Utd to sign before takeover bid failed

Sheikh Jassim allegedly wanted Manchester United to sign 10 players had his takeover attempt succeeded, it has been claimed.

On Tuesday, Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed the purchase of a 27.7 per cent stake in the club through his petrochemicals company INEOS.

Upon the deal being announced, the British billionaire revealed he plans to restore the greatness of United within three years and knock Manchester City and Liverpool “off their perch”.

Ratcliffe told Sky Sports: "They are one of the best teams on the planet.

"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.

"But equally, we are the three great northern clubs and we're all quite close to each other.”

Ratcliffe claimed a stake in United ahead of banker Sheikh Jassim. But as per reports at the time, the Qatari had equally ambitious plans for the Old Trafford club.

In May, it was reported by Spanish publication El Pais that Sheikh Jassim had drawn up a list of 10 players he wanted United to sign.

At the time the Qatari was said to be interested in the likes of Harry Kane and Kim Min-jae, who both ultimately signed for Bayern Munich, as well as Alexis Mac Allister and Adrien Rabiot. Mac Allister ended up moving to Liverpool last summer, while Rabiot signed a contract extension at Juventus.

Harry Kane ultimately signed for Bayern Munich (Getty)

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen was also allegedly targeted, with Dusan Vlahovic considered a cheaper alternative to the Nigerian.

Elsewhere it had been claimed that Sheikh Jassim wanted to sign Frenkie de Jong, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Kingsley Coman and Ronald Araujo.

After sealing his minority stake, Ratcliffe joked that he was not sure United takeover rival Sheikh Jassim ever existed.

“Still nobody's ever seen him, actually,” he said. “The Glazers never met him... he never... I'm not sure he exists!”

Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Sheikh Jassim, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Harry Kane

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.