Is Manchester United on the market? Could Sir Jim Ratcliffe be ousted by the Glazers? Who might the team sign in the upcoming January transfer window? And which young academy talent is poised to make their first-team debut?

With a two-week break from matches, it’s the perfect moment to explore the pressing matters surrounding the club, from potential ownership changes to player acquisitions.

We reached out for your pressing questions about all things Manchester United, and the response was overwhelming, even catching the attention of a notable personality.

If the Glazers decide to sell, will Sir Jim Ratcliffe aim to acquire the entire club, or will he also exit the scene? – @markgoldbridge

What price will the Glazers ultimately set for Manchester United? – @wayneraman

Considering Turki Al-Sheikh’s takeover tweet vs Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s long-term vision and sporting control: How credible is a full Glazer sale right now, and what actual mechanism could trigger it before Ratcliffe’s 2027 ‘dragalong’ date? – @KobiiBanks

Well, Turki Al-Sheikh certainly lit a fuse last week when he posted a message claiming that a United takeover bid was at an advanced stage.

If nothing else, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority made sure all eyes were on him just in time for Riyadh Season, which holds its first event on Wednesday.

The rumour mill has been working overtime ever since, with United fans getting excited that a consortium from the United Arab Emirates is in talks with the Glazer family to buy 100 per cent of the club. Something as big as this is always shrouded in secrecy, so it’s very hard to tell if there’s any real possibility of United being sold.

However, Al-Sheikh’s claim has shone a light again on the ‘drag-along rights’ clause in Ratcliffe’s minority takeover of United which came into effect on August 13, meaning he cannot stop the Glazers selling up if another investor offers more than the $33 (£24.87) per share Ratcliffe paid in February 2024.

Beyond the third anniversary of that deal, the Ineos billionaire would be ‘dragged along’ with any figure the Americans accept – although Ratcliffe has the option to bid for complete ownership of the club as well. Whether Ratcliffe would put up a fight or walk away depends largely on the size of the rival bid, having made no secret of the fact that his petrochemicals operation is under considerable financial strain. Could he match it even if he wanted to?

United’s share price on the New York Stock Exchange puts the club’s valuation at around $2.8bn (£2.1bn), while the $33 per share pushes it to around $5.7bn (£4.3bn) – the minimum that United can be bought for before February 2027. However, it’s understood the Glazers would demand in excess of $6.6bn (£5bn) to sell up – a significant return on their initial £790m leveraged buyout 20 years ago.

The previous Qatari bid led by Sheikh Jassim Al-Thani would only go as high as $6.06bn (£4.57bn), but that isn’t to say another Middle East consortium won’t meet the asking price. The one Al-Sheikh has alluded to is believed to be UAE-based.

The Glazers may also be hoping that a World Cup in North America next year will spike additional interest in the sport and increase the possibility of a US bid. Equally, they might not want to wait that long knowing bidders will be able to offer below the $33 benchmark in 16 months’ time.

As long-suffering United fans will attest, the Glazers won’t be forced into doing anything they don’t want to – particularly now Ratcliffe is doing a lot of the heavy lifting on their behalf while they continue to enjoy the financial rewards.

So the smart money is on the Glazers biding their time until someone matches their valuation, safe in the knowledge that the value of the club is holding strong and only likely to get stronger, while Ratcliffe pays for the upgrade of Carrington and pushes ahead with a new £2bn super stadium.

What does the future hold for Ruben Amorim if the club is eventually sold off by its current owners? – @idan_olowo43695

Ask any manager and they will tell you that new owners and good job prospects rarely go hand in hand. Erik ten Hag was on thin ice the moment Ratcliffe assumed the day-to-day running of the club, and eventually fell through it despite a late reprieve after winning the 2024 FA Cup final.

So Amorim would be vulnerable even if he was on a par with United’s expectations after bringing him in from Sporting Lisbon a year ago and spending heavily on new players to fit his system. A ‘haul’ of just 37 points from his first 34 Premier League games – not to mention no European football and a Carabao Cup exit to League Two Grimsby Town – is well below par.

Ratcliffe and the hierarchy he has put in place at Old Trafford have invested heavily in Amorim, so it would be embarrassing in the extreme to pull the plug now. A new owner is unlikely to have any such reservations.

How can United afford to buy the players we need when they claim we have no money? – @TraylorDj

The latest financials released last month underlined the scale of United’s challenge: the club posted a record £666.5m revenue over the last year, but still made an overall loss of £33m – down 70.8 per cent on the previous year.

United do have money available, but they have to operate carefully within the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules. Ratcliffe has made investment in the first team his priority, which is why United spent another £236m on new signings this summer – roughly in keeping with previous years.

A central midfielder was the glaring omission among the five players brought in, which raised questions over the wisdom of signing two No 10s in Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.

Whether United need two central midfielders depends largely on the futures of Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo, with Casemiro coming to the end of his contract and doubts over Manuel Ugarte’s performances. They will also look to strengthen elsewhere in the team.

United’s revenue streams will remain strong despite the absence of European football, and the losses are coming down. As long as they stay within PSR, United won’t be short of a few quid in the summer – or even in January – if needed.

Was it always the plan to buy three attackers and no midfielders? – @ccruzyy

This summer there was an acknowledgement that United had more holes to fill than could be sorted in one transfer window.

But it was quickly established that adding goals – they only scored 44 in 38 league games last season – was paramount. Cunha’s £62.5million release clause made him a straightforward No 1 target, while the hierarchy saw Bryan Mbeumo as someone who could move the needle for Amorim in his 3-4-2-1 system. That duo alone scored 35 goals in the Premier League last season.

Liam Delap, now at Chelsea, was a move that was 90 per cent done for £30m and that still feels something of a sliding doors moment in terms of the money that would have been freed up to add a midfielder.

It was a sign to supporters just how few credible links were made to midfielders throughout the window, underlining that attackers were top of the agenda all summer long.

The late enquiries on the availability of Carlos Baleba at Brighton were more a case of bringing forward their plans for 12 months’ time if it was feasible and financially affordable this time around.

While fans have been crying out for someone to usurp Casemiro and Ugarte, the fact there was no midfield panic buy on the back of cooling on Baleba made plain that United had long been comfortable with waiting until 2026 to overhaul that position.

Is this going to be Bruno Fernandes’ last season at United? If so, who will replace him? and what does a post-Bruno United look like? – @Utd_Till_Die_99

Fernandes was tempted by a mega-money offer from Al-Hilal in the summer, and is known to be on the radar of Saudi Arabia’s three other state-owned clubs, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli.

The latest messages from the United captain’s camp suggest he is unlikely to move to Saudi next summer, although that remains to be seen.

What is clear, however, is that Fernandes will assess his future at the end of the season and will be open to moving to one of Europe’s other major leagues. He will be 31, having spent six-and-a-half years at United, and about to play in what is likely to be his last World Cup for Portugal.

He may want a new challenge and United will certainly want to bank as big a fee as possible for a player who will be out of contract in June 2027, although the club have the option to extend the deal by another 12 months.

In terms of a replacement, you could argue that United have already signed two, in Mbeumo and Cunha. Fernandes’ best position in Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 is as one of the No 10s, but he has had to move deeper into midfield to accommodate the two new signings and has not been as effective this season.

United also have Mason Mount and Amad Diallo to play at No 10, so Fernandes’ replacement would actually be a central midfielder.

When will Mainoo get his chance to start? – @_MUFCJames

Amorim’s treatment of Mainoo has been of the great puzzles of his United tenure.

The young midfielder’s future at Old Trafford had been unexpectedly thrown into doubt long before Amorim replaced Ten Hag because of PSR rules and the ‘pure profit’ generated by homegrown players. United cashed in on Scott McTominay last year and did the same with Alejandro Garnacho this summer.

Mainoo wanted to go out on loan this season, and Napoli were waiting to reunite him with McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund. United stood firm, wary of the backlash from fans if they allowed such a popular academy graduate to follow Garnacho and Marcus Rashford out of the club.

But it hasn’t swayed Amorim’s selection decisions and Mainoo remains a frustrated bench-warmer. Considering Fernandes’ remarkable injury record – and the coach’s reluctance to play them together – the situation is unlikely to change anytime soon.

If Senne Lammens succeeds will we still go and get a new goalkeeper next summer? – @utd_wayn3

It’s clear even after one appearance that Senne Lammens is the new No 1, with United choosing to sign the young Belgian ahead of World Cup winner Emi Martinez.

There is every chance United will be in the market for a new goalkeeper next summer, but it is more likely to be a back-up option to replace Tom Heaton, who will be 40 in April and out of contract two months later, and possibly Altay Bayindir if the Turk finally tires of being on the bench.

In theory, Andre Onana will also return to Old Trafford after his season-long loan at Trabzonspor, but United won’t want a player earning his salary sat on the bench or the distraction it would cause for Lammens.

Which young players from the academy could get their senior debut this season? – @FPLFrasier

Given the pressure Amorim is under and the fact United only have one game a week, it is very hard for inexperienced players to get a look-in at the moment. 

As revealed by Confidential previously, Jack Fletcher and Shea Lacey are the two players who have made the biggest impression in first-team training.

There had been high hopes for midfielder Sekou Kone, particularly after plans changed to keep him in-house rather than send him out on loan, but his fractured eye socket derailed his season. He is now on the mend and close to a return.

Bendito Mantato is another player we get asked about a lot and while he looked close to breaking into the first team at the back end of last season, his chances have cooled significantly as he adapts to a left back role with the Under 21s.

With Mbeumo and Amad set to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations at the end of this year, plus Amorim’s desire to play Fernandes deeper, it opens up the prospect of Lacey and/or Fletcher being drafted into a position that would suddenly lack depth.

I’m worried about the academy and its future. Under new ownership do profits mean more than seeing one of their own in the first team?! – @AmarVijh999

Ratcliffe meant it when he said that the academy needs to become a more profitable arm of the club, and it is hard to escape the feeling that view has not been influenced in some part by director of football Jason Wilcox, who Ratcliffe communicates with frequently.

Manchester City, where Wilcox and new academy director Stephen Torpey both previously worked, excel in maximising sales of players, with academy products such as Shea Charles (£15m), Pedro Porro (£17.5m), Jadon Sancho (£21.2m), and Romeo Lavia (£22.5m) going for a combined £76.2m despite none of them making a dent in the first team.

City have earned more than £270m from academy sales across the past five years and that benchmark is not lost on United, although their record of getting academy players into the first team should not be diminished.

While the very best will still be ring-fenced and prioritised to crack United’s first team – looking at JJ Gabriel and Lacey as prime examples – there are countless ‘good’ players that will now be piled up and sold on for profit.

What do you think about Amir Ibragimov? – @denexis24

From the outside it’s been seen as a negative that the 17-year-old Russian hasn’t kicked on as much as his peers, and he has yet to be part of the group of academy players that are cycled in and out of first-team training.

This is partly down to other midfielders ahead of Ibragimov – certainly the case with Jim Thwaites, Jack Fletcher and Tyler Fletcher – but United are also trying to get him to adapt to a deeper role.

Particularly with Darren Fletcher’s Under 18s, he has been asked to run games from the base of midfield, often while wearing the captain’s armband.

‘He’s got all the tools to do (the new position) really well,’ Under 21s boss Travis Binnion told Confidential earlier this season after Ibragimov scored the winning goal against Manchester City. ‘He’s intelligent. He’s got stuff to tidy up, but he’s a warrior. If you’re intelligent and a warrior and want to do everything right with and without the ball, then you’re going to cause people problems.’

Similarly to Chido Obi, who has dropped back from first-team sessions to the academy, staff are seemingly playing a long game with Ibragimov as they look to mould him into a tempo-setting midfielder.