Man Utd co-owner Avram Glazer could now be persuaded to keeping a stake in the club after the fan reaction at the FA Cup final, according to reports.
The Red Devils are in the middle of a takeover process with Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe vying for control of the Premier League club.
Both made their third bids for the club by the Glazers’ April 28 deadline .
It is understood that the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank and the son of a former Qatari prime minister made a new bid directly to the Glazers last month after reports that the Ratcliffe camp were increasingly confident of a deal.
Ratcliffe’s bid is reported to be structured to allow two members of the Glazer family which currently owns the club to keep a combined 20 per cent stake.
And now the Daily Express claims that ‘Avram Glazer could be swayed towards retaining a stake in the Red Devils after getting off lightly at the FA Cup final’.
It would ‘spell bad news’ for Sheikh Jassim, who wants to buy 100 per cent of the club, .
Avram Glazer was in attendance for the third time in recent months on Saturday as Man Utd lost 2-1 to Man City in the FA Cup final after taking in the Carabao Cup final and the Women’s FA Cup final.
After getting a lot of stick at the Carabao Cup final, the Express adds that there was ‘a striking lack of chanting from United supporters’ towards Glazer and the Red Devils supporters ‘broadly remained focused on the game’.
The report continues:
‘The way things panned out may encourage Avram and his equally unpopular brother, Joel, to remain at Old Trafford in a minority capacity, which would only be possible by accepting Sir Jim’s offer and moving away from Sheikh Jassim’s hope of a 100-per-cent takeover.’
Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus, who previously claimed to have made a bid for Man Utd earlier on in the process, withdrew from the process and called it a “farce” earlier this year.
And now the 69-year-old has predicted that the takeover of the Premier League club will collapse as he doesn’t think the Glazers will sell.
Zilliacus is now looking at potentially buying Inter Milan and spoke on the appeal of the Italian club, he said: “I like Italian football, it’s the best in the world. I have a house in Italy, in Como and I live there more than half of the year. I have great respect for what Steven Zhang has done.
“He’s done a great job over the last seven years and considering he arrived as a young man to manage Inter, he’s done a fantastic job. If he wants to sell, then yes, we would certainly be interested.
“I won’t say more now, I have great respect for him and his work and I don’t want to disturb him. Especially when the club is focusing on the Champions League final.”
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