Cantona says he would never have joined Man Utd under Ratcliffe after immigration remarks

Manchester United icon Eric Cantona has said he would never have signed for the club had Sir Jim Ratcliffe been its co-owner, directly rebuking the billionaire’s recent comments on immigration.

Cantona made the remarks in response to a question from United fan Pete Boyle on his TikTok channel. Asked whether he would have joined the club under Ratcliffe, the Frenchman was unequivocal: “No. Of course not.”

“You know what I think about all of this, with this kind of politics and I cannot understand that someone like this can say something like this when he’s one of the owners of the club,” Cantona said. “Football is a very popular sport. Football is made — all the greatest players come from different waves of immigration. Everywhere, in France, in England, everywhere.”

The comments follow a BBC interview in which Ratcliffe claimed the United Kingdom is in decline because “nobody’s tough enough to deal with the immigration problem”, also describing the country as “on the slide” and saying he could understand why wealthy people are leaving. When asked which issues politicians should prioritise, Ratcliffe cited immigration and high taxes, adding: “We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars.”

The remarks drew widespread criticism, compounding controversy from earlier this year when Ratcliffe said the UK had been “colonised by immigrants”. He subsequently issued a statement saying he was sorry if those comments had “offended some people”. Then-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and then-mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham were among those who condemned them at the time.

The friction is particularly pointed given that Ratcliffe has previously named Cantona as his favourite Manchester United player. The Frenchman joined Old Trafford from rivals Leeds in 1992 and went on to win four Premier League titles in five seasons, becoming one of the most celebrated figures in the club’s history.

Cantona’s intervention underlines the growing tension between Ratcliffe’s public political statements and the multicultural identity that many supporters and former players associate with the club.