Sir Jim Ratcliffe responds to claims Man Utd want to sign Kylian Mbappe

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has responded to reports that Manchester United want to sign Kylian Mbappe.

United have been among a swathe of clubs linked with Mbappe in the past few months, with the France skipper's contract at Paris Saint-Germain set to expire this summer.

Mbappe is widely tipped to sign for Real Madrid, but the likes of United, Liverpool and Arsenal have also been reported to have registered an interest in the 25-year-old.

However, on the idea of signing Mbappe Ratcliffe told The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast: “I’d rather find the next Mbappe, rather than spend a fortune to buy success. It’s not that clever to buy Mbappe, anybody could figure that one out.”

Similarly, when Ratcliffe was asked about the unlikely prospect of one day signing England star Jude Bellingham from Real, the INEOS billionaire insisted that spending vast sums on new signings is not the best transfer policy.

“He’s a great footballer [but] it’s not where our focus is," Ratcliffe said. "The solution isn’t spending a lot of money on a couple of great players.

"They’ve done that, if you look at the last 10 years. The first thing we need to do is get the right people in the right boxes, managing and organising the club.

Mbappe has been widely tipped to join Real Madrid (Getty)

"We must make sure we get recruitment right, such a vital part of running a football club is getting recruitment right, finding new players.”

Ratcliffe has assumed control of United’s football operations from the much-maligned Glazer family and quickly installed cycling supremo Sir Dave Brailsford to conduct a full audit of how the club is run.

On how to revive United's fortunes, Ratcliffe said: "The two people who are most focused on it would be Dave and myself, in terms of how we resolve it all.

“We’ve now got Omar Berrada of course, our new CEO from Manchester City, who is still on gardening leave at the moment, he’ll be a big part of it. But it’s Dave and myself really, and we have a daily chat… It’s never a short chat with Dave, is it?”