Sir Jim Ratcliffe demands Manchester United to sell more academy youngsters, targeting a profit of £50 million, aiming to learn from Manchester City and Chelsea in making money.

The Daily Mail reports that Manchester United's owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, intends to use profits from academy sales to close the gap on their top Premier League competitors. The club is now focusing more on developing young players, both for first-team promotion and for generating income through sales to enhance financial health.

In July this year, the controversial English striker Mason Greenwood moved from Ligue 1 club Marseille to Turkish giants Fenerbahçe for a total transfer fee of €42 million. As his former academy club, Manchester United eventually received €10 million to €13.5 million of that fee, all of which is counted as pure profit.

Additionally, last week Manchester United sold 22-year-old goalkeeper Radek Vítek to Championship side Middlesbrough for a total of £14 million (€16 million). If Middlesbrough are promoted to the Premier League next season and Vítek plays in over 60% of matches, the Red Devils will receive the full amount. In the Championship's opening round, Middlesbrough won, and Vítek started as the number one goalkeeper.

Manchester United also included a 35% sell-on clause and a buy-back option in Vítek's contract. There is an opportunity to generate more income from him in the future. He joined United at age 16 and already holds academy status, so any income from him is also pure profit.

After acquiring Manchester United, Ratcliffe publicly criticized the club's academy performance. Club insiders admit that the youth system has slowed down in recent years, while clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea have generated huge revenues from their academy players.

According to data, since the 2014/15 season, Chelsea has sold a total of 39 academy players, generating cumulative revenue of £306.1 million, accounting for 25.4% of the club's transfer income in that period. Meanwhile, statistics from Sky Sports show that since Pep Guardiola took charge of Manchester City in 2016, the club has earned £500 million from selling academy players.

This naturally makes Ratcliffe envious, hoping the Red Devils can achieve the same. Before the summer transfer window closes on September 1, Manchester United hopes to sell a few more academy players. The most valuable among them might be 19-year-old left-back Harry Amass, with United aiming for a transfer fee of £7 million, plus add-ons similar to Vítek's. Amass joined United from Watford in August 2023, exactly three years ago, becoming a Red Devils academy player, and any income from him will be pure profit.

22-year-old English midfielder Toby Collier is also on Manchester United's transfer list. He joined from Brighton in 2022 and has also obtained academy status, so selling him would bring pure profit. Of course, some academy enthusiasts may question whether it is wise to sell young players when the team has qualified for the Champions League and will play at least 48 matches next season, possibly over 60.

In an ideal scenario, Ratcliffe would have preferred Manchester United to sell Marcus Rashford for a higher income. The 28-year-old Red Devils academy graduate had a clause for a permanent transfer to Barcelona worth €30 million (£26 million), but unfortunately, the La Liga champions wanted to lower the price, and the transfer ultimately did not materialize.

Therefore, Ratcliffe has lowered his target for income from academy players from €80 million to €50 million. He has already generated over €30 million in related revenue. If the sales of players like Amass, Collier, and Dan Gore go well, there is still a chance to achieve the goal.