There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the ownership of Manchester United in recent weeks, and we take a closer look at what could be next for the club.
It has recently been announced that Sir Jim Ratcliffe will pay £1.3bn for 25% of Manchester United after Sheikh Jassim pulled out of the bidding process.
It is unclear of how the club will run going forward, as Ratcliffe would own just 25% of the club but this could be the start of a future takeover of a higher percentage of Manchester United.
Qataris out of the picture
It has recently been brought to the surface that Sheikh Jassim has pulled out of the bidding for Manchester United due to the amount of money that it would cost him to purchase the club.
At the moment the Qatari bid is not on the table, however if something was to collapse with Ratcliffe, then this would give Jassim an opportunity to re-enter the race, although that looks very unlikely at this stage after putting in a final £5bn offer which broke down on Saturday.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s role
Now that Ratcliffe is set to take over 25% of Manchester United, there is a greater understanding of what his role will entail of being part owner of one of the worlds biggest football clubs.
It is expected that Ratcliffe will run the football operations side of the club, and the initial 25% that he owns could well be the first step in a phased takeover of a bigger percentage.
Why is it difficult to buy Manchester United?
It has proven extremely difficult for parties to even attempt to buy Manchester United, and a large part of this is down to all six members of the Glazers not wanting to sell, proving difficult for negotiations to even enter the initial stages.
The second major factor is how much it would cost in comparison to some of the other top football clubs, which has evidently put off a lot of interested parties over the past 18 months.
For example, United are currently £1bn in debt and Jassim’s final offer had included £1.4bn to improve the club’s facilities. Factor in several hundred million needed to invest in the squad, then it leaves only parties worth several billion able to compete in buying the club. Perhaps that’s why Ratcliffe’s 25% offer might be best for the club as we speak.
