The Manchester United sale saga has still not reached a conclusion, with the Glazer family still not deciding who to sell the club to. Since November 2022, the club has been put up for sale by the Glazer family, whom fans have long been dissatisfied with.
Two competitors have been trying to buy the club: the British CEO of INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim. Despite multiple rounds of bidding and many days of talking, the Glazers’ still haven’t chosen a winner. And now Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to make a final offer.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe rumored to renegotiate with Manchester United
Earlier this year, the British entrepreneur made an offer to buy United for £5 billion, which is only the Glazers’ shares of the club. The Glazers own about 69 percent of the club, which would have gone to Ratcliffe. There was confusion regarding who the remaining 31 percent would belong to and the Glazers wanted the offer to be worth £6 billion.
But now the billionaire founder of INEOS is ready to rectify that. According to The Express, he is now trying to make a new offer after renegotiating and restructuring the terms of the deal. This would be his sixth bid in many months and could very well be close to the £6 billion valuation the Glazers want. It will address any grievances that the minority owners may have and presumably have the Glazers involved in the club in some capacity.
The Glazer family’s two brothers, Joel and Avram, are hesitant to sell the club at all and want to stay there. This way, the offer from Ratcliffe may seem more favorable to them. However, fans want to see the Glazers go away from the club, as evidenced by this latest stunt.
Update on Sheikh Jassim’s attempt at Manchester United takeover
The only competitor to Sir Jim Ratcliffe is Sheikh Jassim, who is a businessman from Qatar who is also a royal family member. The billionaire has also made multiple offers to buy the club, to no avail. His offer was to buy the whole club for the same amount of £5 billion. He also promised the fans to renovate the stadium and training grounds and increase transfer spending. His offer also included clearing the debt of the club and many other facilities for the club and it’s fans.
But even after his fifth bid, there has been no response from the owners. Despite threatening that it was his last offer, The Sun reports that there could be a sixth bid, which could see the offer increase to £6 billion. It is clear that Qatar is keen to finalize the purchase of Manchester United as soon as possible.
There have been rumors that the winner could be announced by mid-October, though there’s no guarantee due to the inconsistent words of the Glazers. Nevertheless, Manchester United fans would be hoping to finally see an end to this takeover saga.
