Man Utd takeover: Sheikh Jassim intends to break Ten Hag’s ‘Cristiano Ronaldo rule’

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27 August 2024, 01:15 yayınlandı

Sheikh Jassim will break Erik ten Hag’s ‘Cristiano Ronaldo rule’ if he wins the battle to take over at Manchester United.

The Qatari group are in a two-horse race with INEOS owner Jim Ratcliffe to take the helm at Old Trafford, with the parties waiting for further communication from Raine Group, working on behalf of the Glazer family.

The Glazers are yet to decide on their preferred bidder, with the process continuing to drag as speculation and rumours intensify.

Those rumours suggest INEOS could be at the front of the queue despite Sheikh Jassim’s 11th-hour bid of £5.5billon around eight days ago, perhaps because – according to a finance expert – the Glazers would “not benefit” frp, that highest bid.

Despite Ratcliffe’s willingness to significantly back United in the transfer market, the appeal of the Qatari bid is their bottomless pot of cash, with Mirror claiming they’ve made Kylian Mbappe one of their top targets.

Paris Saint-Germain teammate Neymar has also been linked in recent days, amid reports that they are also willing to hand Real Madrid a ‘blank cheque’ to land Federico Valverde, who could be available with Jude Bellingham on the verge of a move to the Bernabeu.

Any of those additions would likely mean United are forced to break Ten Hag’s ‘Ronaldo rule’, which has been used as a guide for the club’s recent transfer dealings.

The ‘Ronaldo rule’ was first reported by the Daily Mail in January; they claimed the Red Devils were no longer willing to hand out weekly salaries of over £200,000 per week.

They wanted to get a hold of the club’s inflated wage budget, which was the highest in the Premier League last season at £384m.

United also wanted to make contract negotiations with current players easier and eliminate feelings of jealousy in the dressing room.

David De Gea is one of the first players at United to feel the effect of the ‘Ronaldo rule’ as he looks set to agree a deal that will halve his current £375,000-a-week salary.

Reacting to the ‘Ronaldo rule’, former United star Gary Neville was baffled by a policy that would rule out moves for Mbappe and co.

‘Capping wages is a radical policy. Rules out [Declan] Rice, [Jude] Bellingham and others in that bracket. Any new owners would probably want to enter the running for these types and probably [Kylian] Mbappe as well. 200k won’t get you Rice or Bellingham let alone Mbappe!’