Sir Jim Ratcliffe suffers fresh Champions League blow as club sale plans hits setback

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's plans to sell Nice have suffered a blow after the French side missed out on automatic qualification for the league phase of the . Ratcliffe, through his company Ineos, bought Nice back in the summer for 2019 for around £85million.

He has endured a rocky time at the Allianz Riviera though, with the regime deeply unpopular among supporters. Ratcliffe has increasingly turned his focus away from Nice and onto .

Despite that lack of attention, Nice have enjoyed their most successful season yet since Ratcliffe took over. After losing manager Francesco Farioli to Ajax last summer following a fifth place finish, Franck Haise was appointed in his place.

With one game to play, Haise has all but secured European football for his side. They currently sit in fourth place, but are level on points with both Lille in fifth and Strasbourg in sixth.

Due to Ligue 1's diminishing status in European football, only the top three in Ligue 1 qualify automatically for the league phase of the Champions League. With one game remaining, Nice cannot catch third-place Monaco, who sit four points ahead of them.

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Les Aiglons must beat Brest on the final day to secure their fourth place finish. But they will then face the arduous test of the qualifying rounds, with Ligue 1's fourth-place team entering at the third stage.

That would mean a two-leg play-off for Nice at the start of August, before a final play-off round at the end of that month. Nice's chances of finishing in the top three were dashed by a poor defeat away at mid-table Rennes on Saturday.

Two goals from Arnaud Kalimuendo secured the three points for the hosts. He first turned in a cross from Ludovic Blas after 15 minutes, before breaking through to finish past Marcin Bulka late on.

Missing out on automatic qualification is a serious blow for Ratcliffe's hopes of selling the team. It was revealed last week that the billionaire is looking to move on from the South of France.

He has engaged New York-based investment bank Lazard to find a buyer, with the hope of bringing in £213m. A 'blind trust' have been operating Nice this season, with neither Ineos nor Ratcliffe having 'control or decisive influence' at the club.

That was due to UEFA rules around multi-club operations as both United and Nice qualified for the . Bringing in such a large fee is already complicated by the TV rights crisis in French football.

And the potential lack of Champions League money coming in is an added blow. Ratcliffe has already made it clear he has little interest in Nice, now he has taken over at United.

"With Nice, in the French league, you can buy a club for £100million. It’s much cheaper access. But I don’t particularly enjoy going to watch Nice because there are some good players but the level of football is not high enough for me to get excited," he told The Times.

“The best season that Nice has had is this one where we’ve not been allowed to get involved because of multi-club ownership rules. They’ve been so much better without our interference! Maybe there’s a lesson there as well, you know."

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