• Forward set to become first signing of Jim Ratcliffe era
• Ruud van Nistelrooy joins as assistant manager

Manchester United have agreed a fee of about €42m (£35.3m) for Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee, with the forward set to become the first signing of the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era. The player’s terms and his agent’s fee are agreed so the 23-year-old’s arrival may be confirmed soon.

The price is more than the Dutchman’s €40m release clause but whereas the release clause had to be paid in a single sum, United can pay the €42m over three years, allowing the club more flexibility in the market.

• Club made third-quarter loss of £71.4m, accounts show
• Ineos owner has injected $200m, with $100m to follow

Manchester United made a £71.4m net loss in the third quarter of the financial year, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s 27.7% buy-in costing the club £30.3m, though the Ineos owner has since injected $200m (£156.1m) into the club.

With previous accounts detailing a £9.6m cost involved with Ratcliffe becoming United’s largest minority owner, the total stands at £39.9m. The club view the sum, derived in part from legal, banking and consultancy fees, as a prudent business investment, as they have put a new structure in place that they are confident will drive United forward. While Ratcliffe controls football policy, Omar Berrada has been hired as chief executive, Dan Ashworth as sporting director and Jason Wilcox as technical director.

• Initial fee €27.6m; move depends on forward agreeing
• Greenwood has not played for United since January 2022

Manchester United have accepted a €31.6m (£26.7m) offer for Mason Greenwood from Marseille, with the forward to sign for the Ligue 1 club subject to his terms being finalised.

The deal is for a guaranteed €27.6m plus €4m in add-ons and if the 22-year-old can come to contractual agreement with Marseille and joins, his troubled United career will end. It is understood the sell-on clause is 40-50% of any fee.

• Manager praises minority owner’s new club structure
• ‘We are in a very strong position to go and attack’

Erik ten Hag has stated that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s new Manchester United structure has put the club in a very strong position to “attack” the challenge of winning the Premier League and European titles.

Ratcliffe became United’s largest minority owner in February, taking control of football policy, and the Ineos owner has appointed Dan Ashworth as sporting director and Jason Wilcox as technical director.

• United offer also included £5m in add-ons for defender
• Everton bid £16m for Hull winger Jaden Philogene

Everton have rejected Manchester United’s latest offer for Jarrad Branthwaite and maintain they will not sell the England international for a cut-price fee.

United made a second bid of £45m plus £5m in add-ons for the 21-year-old defender on Monday night. That followed last month’s offer of £35m plus £10m in add-ons and was again immediately rejected.

• Greenwood met United football hierarchy on Monday
• Forward not involved with training under Ten Hag

Mason Greenwood held constructive discussions at Manchester United’s Carrington training centre on Monday morning with the club’s football leadership regarding a move away. Marseille have lodged a bid for the forward and talks are advanced, with United valuing the player at £40m.

The meeting with the football leadership group, which is led by Dan Ashworth, the sporting director, was brief and considered positive, but Greenwood did not take part in training with Erik ten Hag’s squad and is not expected to do so this summer. This follows his exile from the team after he was arrested in January 2022. Subsequent criminal charges were dropped the following year.

• United weighing up whether to pay €40m release clause
• Van Nistelrooy awaiting visa to join coaching staff

Manchester United are closing in on signing Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna after terms with the striker and his agent’s commission were agreed. The club are deliberating over whether to trigger the the Netherlands international’s €40m (£34m) release clause or negotiate a higher fee that would allow payments by instalments.

Erik ten Hag is also targeting the centre-backs Jarrad Branthwaite and Matthijs de Ligt and cashflow is an issue for United, so having the funds to operate in the market is a balancing act reliant in part on outgoings that would draw finance from fees and the removal of salaries.

• Decision has caused upset among some employees
• Manager Erik ten Hag has signed new contract until 2026

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s decision to cut 250 jobs at Manchester United, which caused shock and tears from some employees, will save about £10m a year. With the redundancies worth an estimated £40,000 a head, the saving is part of Ratcliffe’s drive to restructure the club and make it sustainable.

There is a recognition among the workforce that United have become a bloated operation and the Guardian reported last December that up to 300 jobs were under threat. But when the planned redundancies were communicated at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday, there was surprise among a number of those attending in person or remotely.

• Ten Hag ‘very pleased’ after extending deal by a year
• Dan Ashworth: Ten Hag can help ‘drive up standards’

Manager Erik Ten Hag has extended his Manchester United contract until June 2026 in a show of support from minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The Dutchman’s future had looked uncertain at the end of last season after a disappointing campaign saw the club finish eighth, their worst-ever performance in the Premier League.

• Newcastle sign £28m Lewis Hall and keeper John Ruddy
• Gray poised to join Spurs with Rodon heading to Leeds

Dan Ashworth is finally free to start work as Manchester United’s sporting director after compensation was agreed with Newcastle. The former Football Association technical director was placed on gardening leave in February after it became apparent Ashworth wanted to swap St James’ Park for Old Trafford to join the new Ineos management model established by the minority co-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The 53-year-old joined Newcastle as sporting director from Brighton in 2022 and his exit did not go down well with them and they demanded a £20m settlement fee from United.

• Women’s team moved into portable buildings
• Facilities go to men during Carrington revamp

The Manchester United women’s team will be moved into portable buildings at the club’s Carrington training complex this season to allow the men’s squad to use the women’s building while the men’s indoor ­facilities are being revamped.

Renovation work began on Monday on a £50m investment to moder­nise the men’s first-team building at Carrington, with the club ­announcing on 14 June that all areas of the men’s building were “being refurbished to deliver a world-class football ­facility with a positive culture to support future success”. The building works are expected to last for the duration of the 2024-25 campaign.

• Tottenham and West Ham also interested in forward
• Hammers expected to bid again for Wolves’ Kilman

Jonathan David is at the heart of a tussle between Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham, with all four clubs making checks on the Lille striker as part of their search for attacking reinforcements.

David, who is representing Canada at the Copa América, could be one of the bargains of the transfer window given that he has less than 12 months left on his deal and is not minded to sign an extension. Lille are expected to cash in on the forward, who is ready for a move to the Premier League, and he could be available for as little as £20m.

• Focus has been on men – ‘the first team’ – says Ratcliffe
• Words used and timing concern fans as window opens

Manchester United’s minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has admitted that focusing on the men’s side means he has not gone into detail on the women’s team yet, despite the women’s transfer window opening on Monday.

In an interview with Bloomberg, when asked what they are doing with the women’s team, Ratcliffe replied: “Well they’ve just won the FA Cup.” Questioned on whether they have looked at spinning off the women’s team, with Chelsea having recently announced that their side will become a standalone entity, sitting alongside the men’s team and with the club ownership group as the controlling shareholder, Ratcliffe conceded: “We haven’t gone into that level of detail with the women’s football team yet. We’ve been pretty much focused on how do we resolve the first-team issues, in that environment, and that’s been pretty full time for the first six months.”

Butt given 12-month ban and must do 100 hours of unpaid work for breaking motorcyclist’s leg after pulling out in ‘lapse of concentration’

The former Manchester United footballer Nicky Butt has been banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work after breaking a motorcyclist’s leg in a road crash.

Butt, 49, who was heading home after taking his son to football training in Burnley, pulled out in front of a Honda motorbike ridden by Adam Fielding after a “momentary lapse of concentration,” Blackburn magistrates court heard.

• Ratcliffe says he understands City’s APT challenge
• ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ says United’s minority owner

Manchester United’s minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has said he understands why rivals Manchester City are challenging Premier League financial rules, and warned the competition faces “ruin” if regulation goes too far.

City are suing the league over its associated party transaction (APT) rules, which are designed to ensure commercial deals linked to a club’s ownership are done for fair market value. “I can understand why they are challenging it,” Ratcliffe told Bloomberg. “You can understand why they would say that they want an open market, a free market.”

• Thomas Tuchel among those contacted by board
• Says agreeing a new contract ‘isn’t easily done’

Erik ten Hag has admitted that Manchester United contacted other managers about his job and revealed that he is yet to agree a new contract with the club.

Ten Hag’s comments, made on a television sports show in the Netherlands on Sunday, confirmed the speculation swirling around the club since they won the FA Cup last month before it emerged last week that the Dutchman was to stay in his post.

• Erik ten Hag keen to upgrade his centre-back options
• Everton value 21-year-old closer to £60-70m

Manchester United have made an initial offer to Everton for Jarrad Branthwaite, worth £45m including add-ons, in what is the club’s first move of the summer transfer window.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls United’s football policy, approved the offer, which is for a basic £35m plus £10m in clauses. Everton are expected to reject the bid given they value the 21-year-old centre-back closer to £60m-70m.

• Ratcliffe says work on men’s building will improve team
• Norman Foster project set to last through next season

Manchester United will start a £50m revamp of the men’s first-team building at their Carrington training complex next week, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe stating this will transform it into a “world-class” facility and improve performance.

The project, led by the renowned architect Norman Foster, starts on Monday and is expected to continue throughout next season.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Manchester United advisers were minded to sack the Dutchman but in the end another trophy changed their minds

The documentary of how Manchester United’s Sir Jim Ratcliffe-led season review ended with Erik ten Hag keeping his job as manager would show a forensic, painstaking process, according to a high-ranking club executive. The non in-house version might differ as it would show Ratcliffe and his advisers being minded to sack the Dutchman before a number of factors ultimately persuaded them that Ten Hag should remain in post.

Ten Hag probably stopped contemplating clearing his United desk after Ratcliffe’s beauty parade of Thomas Tuchel, Kieran McKenna (who signed a lucrative new contract with Ipswich), Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Graham Potter, Gary O’Neil, Paulo Fonseca and Gareth Southgate as potential replacements ended with them all judged less handsome than the incumbent.

• Manager accepted suggestion about Fernandes as false 9
• Dutchman’s flexibility impressed Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Erik ten Hag’s willingness to accept Jason Wilcox’s tactical suggestion that he use Bruno Fernandes as a false 9 in Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph against Manchester City was a key factor in the Dutchman being retained as manager.

While it was Ten Hag’s call, his decision impressed Sir Jim Ratcliffe as evidence he can work within the minority owner’s new football structure.