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Michael O’Neill believes Northern Ireland still have everything to play for in their bid to reach Euro 2024 even as injuries hit hard during the qualifying campaign. With a trip to Denmark and a home match against Kazakhstan up next, O’Neill has named a 28-man squad that includes five uncapped players and a total of 15 with fewer than 10 caps. Although Jonny Evans returns from the hamstring injury that prevented him from adding to his 100 caps in March, Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans, Liam Boyce, Josh Magennis, Conor Washington and Shane Ferguson remain sidelined, forcing O’Neill to rely on youth. When O’Neill returned to the Northern Ireland job in December there was an opportunity to capitalise on a favourable qualifying draw, and although that remains possible, the absence of his most experienced players is making it a much tougher ask. Northern Ireland began with a 2-0 win in San Marino in their group opener, but a 1-0 home defeat to Finland highlighted the difficulties. Asked if the job had been harder than envisaged, O’Neill said: “I suppose it depends on what the expectation is for this campaign going forward as well. I still think we have got everything to play for in this campaign. “The next two games are going to be very important and then obviously we have a double-header away in September (against Slovenia and Kazakhstan) which will be difficult, so we are going to ask a lot of a number of young players in this group. “The senior players that we have with us, we really can’t afford to lose any more. I think we have eight players out who could all equally play for us, who have all been established players with a high number of caps. “That is the situation that unfortunately we just have to deal with.” It has meant O’Neill has been juggling the need for results with the need to nurture young players, with Conor Bradley and Shea Charles in particular asked to take on significant roles. “It is a different approach from taking a team and saying ‘Right, how do we qualify? What is our route to qualification? How do we get enough points?’” O’Neill added. “Of course, that is always in the background but I think it is more about the integration of the younger players and they will have to learn very quickly on the job if we are going to take that next step.” O’Neill has hosted a series of training camps with senior players and under-21s in recent weeks, aiming to keep fitness levels high after the end of domestic campaigns while running the rule over younger faces. Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly, West Ham teenager Callum Marshall and Larne forward Lee Bonis have all used the opportunity to earn their first senior call-ups. While the return of Evans is a major boost, the Leicester defender will come into camp dealing with the disappointment of relegation and facing uncertainty over his future. “He is very disappointed for them to go down and he is in a situation where he is out of contract as well,” O’Neill said. “I am sure if he was playing his football elsewhere next season he would have liked to have left Leicester in a slightly different way but he was just unfortunate this season. “Probably, I think by his own admission, he pushed very hard to get back because I think he does make a difference to Leicester’s team. I think you saw that in the final three games that he was fit to play in. But I know he is keen to be a part of this squad and play. “It is big for us to have him back, obviously we missed him in March and I believe that Jonny still has a lot of football left in him, both with Northern Ireland and wherever he chooses to play his football next season.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live French Open day 12: Karolina Muchova reaches first grand slam final after upset Jonny Evans back in Northern Ireland squad for Euro 2024 qualifiers West Ham fans line streets to toast Europa Conference League champions

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Call it a belated birthday present, perhaps. Sir Jim Ratcliffe turned 71 on Wednesday. For those who have amassed such riches, it is less a question of what others buy them and more what they buy for themselves. And in Ratcliffe’s case, at a cost of £1.3bn, the answer may be a quarter of the club he has supported since he was a child in Failsworth. There are details to iron out and no deal will be finalised just yet but the Manchester United board will vote – though probably not on Thursday – whether to accept Ratcliffe’s offer. The petrochemicals billionaire has already seen off his main competitor: if there was a widespread assumption – one that may have been shared by the Glazer family – that Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani would dramatically raise a bid that many believed was financed by the Qatari state, it never happened. Ratcliffe has been a triumph of persistence and flexibility, amending his own offer from a majority to a minority stake, negotiating with the Glazers. It comes to something when a man of his wealth feels like the underdog but the outsider has prevailed. While Sheikh Jassim also presented himself as a United supporter and while Ratcliffe had attempted to buy Chelsea, the Ineos co-founder has the feel of the local boy made good. And, at points in the past, a place on a football club board would have felt a reward for many who matched that description. Now the sums are so massive that the motivations become most instructive. Thus far, the questions outnumber the definitive answers. Will United be a trophy asset for Ratcliffe? Perhaps not immediately, given that the Glazers will remain the biggest shareholders, at least in the short term. Is it simply an astute business deal? Not on the face of it, given that Ratcliffe has valued United at around double its market price and Sheikh Jassim felt the Glazers’ demands were outlandish. Yet Ratcliffe has proved he can make money: that 25 per cent could yet yield a profit and the Glazers’ reluctance to walk away seemed to stem in part from a belief the club will be worth more again in the future. The most pertinent issue for many supporters, who have long called for the Glazers to go, is whether it leads to a full takeover; and if so, whether the terms of Ratcliffe’s buy-in ensure it, or merely make it optional. Moreover, the new structure, assuming it is improved, does not necessarily promise the investment United require: with other parties holding 75 per cent of the club, Ratcliffe would have less incentive to put his own money in. The presumption at the moment is that the £1.3bn will largely go to the Glazers, not United. The general sense is the club need the money more than their owners. Sheikh Jassim’s promises will now never be tested but he had pledged to invest more than £1bn; with the need to either revamp or rebuild Old Trafford, any plans to improve the infrastructure the Glazers have neglected will not be cheap. So if Ratcliffe pursues such plans, will the debt – currently at £725m – rise over £1bn? United’s current scope for signings is limited more by Financial Fair Play than anything else, but could he bring an improvement in recruitment? The feeling is that Ratcliffe wants control of the football side of the club, where United’s underachievement has been particularly grievous in the last decade. Would that be beneficial? Given United’s record, it may be welcomed. Ratcliffe’s own record in sport is mixed: Nice are currently second in Ligue Un but their fortunes have fluctuated during his ownership and have been pockmarked by transfer-market missteps. Lausanne have been both relegated and promoted under Ratcliffe’s regime. He bought the most successful outfit in world cycling, then known as Team Sky; since rebranded as Ineos, but they have lost their pre-eminence and appear in an identity crisis. But if his initial emphasis is on the pitch – rather than the commercial side of the business the chief executive, Richard Arnold, oversees – there is an obvious focus on the director of football, John Murtough. Inside Old Trafford, there is already a recognition the team has achieved too little and their record in recruitment has been underwhelming since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Some nevertheless feel that there is more structure and strategy since Ed Woodward handed over the reins: they can point to a new training centre for the women’s and academy teams, the appointment of Erik ten Hag, and a fine season last year. Yet a stumbling, stuttering start to this season, the struggles of several recent signings and the reality that around £400m has been spent in the last two summers feels ill-timed. Accusations United have overpaid are scarcely new but will it prompt Ratcliffe to seek change behind the scenes? The initial noises are that, despite the team’s slump, Ten Hag is seen as far more of a solution than a problem, though it would be instructive to know if that stance were maintained should the next 10 games bring another six defeats. Shifts in ownership do not always bode well for incumbent managers, whereas the Dutchman has enjoyed the backing of Murtough and the Glazers. Ten Hag always projects an air of confidence and decisiveness but many at Old Trafford could be forgiven for wondering what Ratcliffe’s investment means and what comes next. If it has scarcely helped United that they have lingered in limbo for 11 months, since the Glazers put the club up for sale, a boardroom vote could instead bring about a time of uncertainty. Read More The best in the world? 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