Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already warned Manchester United that failure to qualify for the Champions League would negatively impact their summer transfer plans.
The Red Devils have endured a challenging season under Erik ten Hag, who has seen any credit from his maiden campaign, where United ended a six-year trophy drought, erode over recent months.
Ratcliffe and his Ineos team are now calling the shots and have ambitious plans to re-establish the club among Europe's elite. Whether or not Ten Hag will form part of those plans, however, remains to be seen given how the season has panned out.
While fans may be anticipating a busy transfer window in the summer regardless of what happens with Ten Hag, United's inability to finish in the top-four could have major ramifications given previous comments made by Ratcliffe.
Speaking during an interview with BBC Sport back in February month, Ratcliffe emphasised how crucial a top-four finish was financially, saying: “We have a short-term issue, which is we really, really want to get into the Champions League next year. It is quite important for FFP (Financial Fair Play).”
Unfortunately for Ratcliffe - and Ten Hag - the chances of that happening were extinguished on Saturday as a result of their disappointing 1-1 draw against Burnley.
That result - coupled with Aston Villa's draw against Chelsea - means United are now 13 points behind Unai Emery's men and unable to make up that deficit with just four league fixtures remaining this term.
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When Ten Hag was asked prior to Villa's match if the Europa League was now the target, he said: “That is the facts. It is not easy to get fourth when you’re so far behind. We needed to win.
“The past few weeks we’ve got in winning positions and then given it away. The gap is too big in this phase of the season.”
Ratcliffe and co are expected to try and refresh Manchester United's squad ahead of the 2024/25 campaign and the Red Devils have also been linked with lots of potential new recruits including Michael Olise, Jarrad Branthwaite and Jeremie Frimpong.
It's expected United will attempt to offload a number of players in order to supplement their transfer budget with the likes of Casemiro, Antony and Jadon Sancho all potentially up for grabs.
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