Man Utd takeover: ‘Challenging issue’ for Ratcliffe emerges amid Sheikh Jassim ‘feeling’

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22 September 2024, 12:15 yayınlandı

A ‘challenging issue’ for Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s potential takeover of Manchester United has emerged amid a ‘feeling’ Sheikh Jassim could table a fifth bid.

Ratcliffe is currently viewed as the frontrunner to buy United, with the INEOS owner offering Joel and Avram Glazer the chance to stay at Old Trafford in reduced roles.

The Americans would then be able to cash in their existing shares in the next two to four years.

But football finance expert Kieran Maguire has outlines a possible problem for Ratcliffe’s purchase of the club, surrounding the way in which he stores his wealth.

“Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s wealth has never been a distractor as far as his ability to fund a takeover is concerned,” he told Football Insider.

“How his wealth is stored is a much more challenging issue – he’s unlikely to have £5-6billion of cash in a bank account given present rates of interest.

“Liquidising his assets will be much more tricky for him, should he choose to go down that particular route.

“If the acquisition is going to be done through INEOS, then I suspect that they will use a combination of existing cash resources while also going to the market to fund the purchase price.”

The Glazers are yet to name their preferred bidder despite reports suggesting they would do so last week.

The ‘directors of the Premier League club’s holding company met on Thursday to discuss the progress of its £5bn-plus auction’ but ‘did not opt to enter into exclusive negotiations’ with either party.

And with the process continuing to drag claimed there’s a ‘feeling’ Sheikh Jassim could make a fifth bid.

There have been concerns among the fanbase that this process could now rumble on for weeks or months and hamper Erik ten Hag’s summer transfer business.

Man Utd finished third in the Premier League this season, winning the Carabao Cup in the process, while they have another chance at silverware when they take on Man City in the FA Cup final at the weekend.

And Ten Hag seemed to aim a dig at the Glazers over a lack of investment in the January transfer window, he said: “The club knows if you want to play top four and compete for trophies in this league, then you have to invest.

“Otherwise you don’t have a chance, because other clubs will. We’ve seen it in the winter – all the clubs around us made huge investments.

“We didn’t, but still we made it, so I’m proud of my team.”