PREMIER LEAGUE – Takeover of Manchester United: Qatar and Ratcliffe have made their third offer

It is this last scenario that has gained credibility over the five months that the soap opera has already lasted, especially since everything suggests that the bar of 7 billion euros that the Florida family hoped to draw from this sale will not be reached.

“We can confirm that Sheikh Jassim has submitted his final offer,” A source familiar with the matter told AFP a few minutes after 11:00 p.m., the deadline set by the owners. According to the sports news channel Sky Sports, this offer is more than 5.7 billion euros, which would be a world record for this type of transaction.

“We cannot discuss the details of the offer at this stage.” pointed out the close source, but “Sheikh Jassim’s offer also includes a plan to invest a substantial sum directly in the club’s capital and infrastructure”. The sheikh’s offer also includes the repayment of the club’s 700 million euros in debt, the same source assured.

Ratcliffe ready to ally with the Glazers

Also according to Sky Sports, the other main candidate for the takeover, British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, a supporter of the club since early childhood, has also submitted a third offer, but which does not cover all the capital.

During the first two rounds of bidding, in mid-February and at the end of March, he was targeting the 69% held by the Glazers, with 31% remaining in the hands of institutional investors. From the start of the sale process, the businessman who already controls the clubs in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Nice, France, had warned that he would not pay “crazy sums for things that we later regret”.

With the Glazer siblings divided over the sale, Jim Ratcliffe would now be willing to leave about 19% to brothers Joel and Avram Glazer, co-presidents of the club, if he becomes the majority shareholder, The Times reported on Thursday.

But there is no guarantee that the Glazers would accept a role as minority shareholders, or even that they would sell. From the end of November, the American family had stressed that he could “be no assurance that (the sale process) will result in a transaction involving the company”. Several investment funds, such as Elliot Investment Management and Carlyle Group, have worked on financial arrangements allowing the Glazers to remain in control and then invest.

The Glazers, masters of clocks

A scenario feared above all by Manchester United supporters who harbor a fierce hatred for the Glazers, whose departure has been demanded at every match for many months.

“We have a pressing need for investment, which undoubtedly requires a change of ownership”, the Manchester United Supporters Foundation, MUST, had recently said in a statement, which was also alarmed at the time taken by the procedure.

“With a summer transfer window only a few weeks away, news of this new delay and continuing uncertainty is very worrying…the process (must) be completed without further ado. to wait for”.

There is a real risk of curbing the momentum created by Erik Ten Hag, on the bench since the summer of 2022 and which took Manchester United to a League Cup victory, the FA Cup final and a qualification likely for the Champions League.

But the Glazers, who presided over one of United’s worst spells — the club have not been champions for 10 years and their turnover has fallen below those of local rivals City and Liverpool — have probably taken care of it and their final decision is not expected for several days.

“Now is the time for sellers to make a decision on what happens next.“, added the source close to the file, underlining the total vagueness in which everyone seems to be kept on the calendar.