Man Utd takeover: ‘Key reason’ for delay revealed as ‘poor’ start under Ten Hag concerns £5bn bidders

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·21 September 2023

Man Utd takeover: ‘Key reason’ for delay revealed as ‘poor’ start under Ten Hag concerns £5bn bidders

Man Utd bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Manchester United’s ‘poor’ start to this season has reportedly ‘done little to persuade Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim to raise their £5bn offers’.

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The Premier League giants have been on the market since last November but it remains to be seen whether the Glazer family will sanction a full sale.

There have officially been three rounds of bidding for Man Utd have the past ten months. INEOS chief Ratcliffe and Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim have emerged as the candidates most likely to oust the Glazer family, but the takeover process has dragged on for far too long at this point.

The Glazer family have not named their asking price for Man Utd but it has become clear that bids of £5bn from Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim are not acceptable.

Ratcliffe is willing to keep the Glazer family for the time being with a reduced stake of around 20%, while Sheikh Jassim is only interested in a full takeover.

The Daily Mail are reporting that ‘United’s stuttering start to the season has done little to bridge the gap between the Glazers’ asking price and what is being offered for the club’.

The report notes that ‘talks remain ongoing with interested parties’ but the ‘key reason for the delay’ is that the Glazers are ‘holding out for substantially more’ than £5bn. They add.

‘While the main elements of the business remain strong, an under-par campaign has failed to inject urgency or persuade those involved to ramp up their bids to an as-yet acceptable level. ‘Sources close to the process say that United’s poor start, which has seem then win twice and lose three times, including Saturday’s morale sagging 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Brighton, has not gone unnoticed among those in the running.’ ‘They say that this season’s struggles have crystalised the size of the rebuilding job needed and the scale of the investment which would be required on the playing side to get United challenging at the top of the table and in Europe again. ‘While fundamental revenue streams are so-far untouched, those involved have seen nothing to sway them away from the view that the prices offered represent a generous valuation of the club.’

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they are “making progress” towards their goal of “chasing down” Premier League rivals Man City.