It is par for the course that clubs with wealthy owners can be overpriced when they first enter the transfer market, and this was the case when Ineos entered the football world six years ago with the purchase of FC Lausanne in Switzerland.
As Ineos itself admits, it made a naive impression on the market in those early days. That season, Lausanne was relegated to the second-tier Swiss Challenge League and has since been promoted and relegated again. There were successes, such as the case of Dan Ndoye who came from the Academy and currently plays in Bologna.
But those other early signings included Simone Rapp, who arrived from Thun for a fee and was loaned out to St. Gallen the following year. Enzo Zidane, son of the great Zinedine, was released but has since slipped down the ranks in Spain. Francesco Margiotta, whose loan deal from Juventus became permanent, recently moved to Serie C club Sestri Levante after a spell in Australia.
There was also naivety on the fan relations front, with traces online of a petition when Lausanne supporters got wind of a possible change to the club badge, which incorporated the Ineos logo, albeit subtly.
Ineos's job was to quickly learn the football market, which it did, by implementing a system where it did not make "chequebook plays" in the words of Bob Ratcliffe, brother of Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and once head of Company. football. The objectives were no different to those of many other clubs in finding "appreciating assets".
When Bob Ratcliffe joined Telegraph Sport in 2021, he used a phrase more than once that would sum up Ineos' approach to its football activities. It wanted something that would "wash its face." In other words, it would pay for itself instead of being dependent on Sir Jim pumping millions upon millions into it.
If you're a billionaire industrialist like Sir Jim Ratcliffe, worth £29.688 billion according to the Sunday Times Rich List, people might expect you to spend the money on football luxuries. But Ineos' strategy was different. It has bought OGC Nice and has yet to break the £30m barrier for a player.
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Finding value in the market through large transfers
With Ineos entering the Premier League with a 25 percent stake in Manchester United, plus control of its football operations, history would suggest it will be more about value than big transfer spending to get it right.
What Nice was trying to do was find value in the market when Ineos initially took the lead. While Paris Saint-Germain were paying Lionel Messi more than £1 million a week in wages, Nice were trying to find players who would increase in value. Amine Gouiri was signed from Lyon for £6 million and moved to Rennes after two years for €28 million.
Melvin Bard, a left-back, is another picked cheaply from Lyon and he is a regular in Nice's current team, who are second in Ligue 1 behind PSG. At 23, Bard's value is only increasing. But it hasn't all gone according to plan. Kasper Dolberg cost £18.4 million from Ajax before being sold to Anderlecht at a loss in the summer after two loans to France.
And the direction of transfer policy has been uncertain since Sir Dave Brailsford's audit of the club. Bob Ratcliffe left his role, while transfer chief Julien Fournier resigned in the summer of 2022. Since then they have appeared haphazardly on the market with the recruitment of Aaron Ramsey (contract terminated within a year), Ross Barkley (now at Luton) and Kasper Schmeichel (contract terminated in September).
They loaned Nicolas Pepe from Arsenal, but when he returned to London, Arsenal wrote off his £72 million fee and allowed him to join Trabzonspor.
They have performed worse under Ratcliffe than under the previous owners. Fifth places and mid-table finishes have been achieved so far, with hopes they can keep up a challenge and keep pace with PSG this year.
It's a busy marker for clubs turning over players. Brighton are admired by some who worked at Ineos, and they also like Graham Potter who was at the Amex Stadium. Nice have lost ground over the past year, but it was certainly their aim to be part of that race, rather than spending money like Chelsea did in the post-Roman Abramovich era.
Ineos has discovered that it is also a busy market in France. PSG has the budget. Lille is historically a competitor, Marseille is an iconic club. Monaco has favorable taxes that are important for paying players. And there is Rennes, who bought Gouiri and sold Jeremy Doku and Raphinha in recent seasons.
Interestingly, one benefit for Ineos was their investment in multiple sports. When Chris Froome was with Team Ineos, the Tour de France winner did part of his rehabilitation in Nice's facilities, working with their footballers. They have a level of detail suitable for top sport. When they bought Nice, one of the key signings was Scott Brooks as grounds manager after his previous spells at Arsenal, Tottenham and St George's Park.
His first task was to use the right grass on training pitches and reduce injuries, with the climate in the south of France being one of the most challenging.
At Nice, Sir Jim was known to receive a report from Galtier after every match while he was at the club, and then an executive committee meeting every two months where the figures were analyzed.
"If you look at the way my brother, Andy [Currie] and John [Reece] running the business, the assets acquired were undervalued and they improved them operationally," Bob Ratcliffe said when he spoke Telegraph Sports in 2021. "Then you put the pieces together and it becomes a successful company. As a company it is very lean."
Portuguese clubs were looked at, which are doing well in 'washing their face', but then Manchester United came onto the market. A test of the Ineos principles, with all eyes on whether it can turn around the faltering club.
