Manchester United’s future remains uncertain as we get closer to the start of pre-season. The Glazer family placed the club up for sale in November 2022, but reports on the club’s future remain sparse. Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe seek to secure a takeover of the club. According to recent sources, Sheikh Jassim has taken the lead. His offer entails purchasing 100% of United, implying that the current owners would leave the club.
Sheikh Jassim might takeover the ownership of Man United defeating Sir Jim Ratcliffe
According to The Athletic, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani is the frontrunner for acquiring Manchester United. He is a quiet and reclusive individual who is little known in business circles in Qatar and the Middle East. The Sheikh, the son of Qatar’s former Prime Minister, is also likely to receive state support for his £5.5 billion takeover bid for the Red Devils. He only earned around £1.5 billion from his role as a board member of Credit Suisse, which he served on for six years. Jassim has made five distinct offers to buy out the Glazers’ ownership of Old Trafford, with the most recent offer coming earlier this month. According to reports, the Qatari banker’s team is now preparing the necessary papers in order to speed up their potential purchase of the club. Some reports claim Ratcliffe’s proposal is “dead in the water”.
Potential suitors have found the takeover process to be difficult and time-consuming, with Sheikh Jassim submitting five bids and Ratcliffe submitting three. However, the Glazers haven’t advanced the process as swiftly as many supporters would have preferred.
Disagreement within Glazer family is delaying the takeover process
The main question is : Why hasn’t the club been sold and given to new owners yet?
It ultimately comes down to the Glazers, according to one M&A expert close to the negotiations. They informed Global Finance that if it weren’t for ‘internal conflicts’ among the Glazers, Sheikh Jassim might already be the new owner.
“What’s the problem? The problem is convincing the kids to agree.”
“Not all five (Avram Glazer, Kevin Glazer, Bryan Glazer, Joel Glazer and Edward Glazer) want to do the deal”. It was also stated that the sale process is “completely in shambles.” That’s very awful regardless of how you take it. The Raine Group, which is in charge of the takeover, declined to comment on the matter.
Jassim’s camp, on the other hand, is confident that they will be able to reach an agreement with the Glazers.
The prolonged takeover scenario has coincided with a poor start to the transfer market at Old Trafford. Moreover United has no major incomings or outgoings and hence, increasing fans’ dissatisfaction. There had been some concern at Old Trafford that the acquisition process could jeopardise Erik ten Hag’s summer plans. However Sky Sports has stated that the money will be available to the Red Devils irrespective of the outcome, which is some good news.
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