Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani’s venture of taking over another Premier League club have been shot down. He failed to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family. The Qatari royal was in the active run to purchase the Red Devils for around 10 months. It was before it emerged that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was set to complete a minority investment in the club.
It has since been rumoured that Sheikh Jassim could try to buy West Ham after missing out on a deal with the Glazers. The Qatari state looks to keep expanding its presence in European football. However , Vanessa Gold recently confirmed that 10 per cent of the shares of West Ham held by her family estate are now available. It was following the death of her father, David, earlier this year.
However, finance expert Mark Kleinman believes that Sheikh Jassim is unlikely to be interested in buying the shares. Maybe one of the reason is that buying just 10% wouldn’t allow him to exert full control over the club’s management.
Sheikh Jassim interested on buying another club:
“It does give someone the chance to invest and get a fairly significant seat at the table, and it will be interesting to see what type of people or groups go for that percentage of stake,” Kleinman told West Ham Zone.
“Of course, we’ve had the rumours of Qatar before the Manchester United takeover bid and maybe after that, but you would assume a bid like that would want full control, but that may not be possible because you have [Daniel] Kretinsky and others there who are fairly well-set in that structure. It will shift the power dynamics around.”
Sheikh Jassim withdrew his bid for United last month after the Glazers settled on Ratcliffe as their preferred investor. This decision followed 10 months of uncertainty and endless speculation. The INEOS chief is now set to purchase 25 per cent of the club. It worths for more than £1.25billion in a deal. However, that will see the Glazers retain a 69 per cent share.
The news of withdrawal of Sheikh Jassim was met with heavy criticism from some United supporters. However, many of whom would prefer to see the Glazer family sell the entire club rather than accept a minority investment from Ratcliffe. The latter is reportedly poised to take control of football operations upon his arrival. Moreover, it is also thought to have pledged £245million to improve United’s infrastructure.
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