Image Source: Mirror
Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who runs one of Qatar’s biggest banks, said his foundation would try to buy Manchester United.
BBC Sport says that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company, Ineos, also made an official bid before Friday’s “soft deadline” at 22:00 GMT.
A billionaire named Ratcliffe had already said he wanted to buy United.
The Glazer family bought United in 2005, and now they are “exploring strategic alternatives,” which means they are thinking about selling.
Sheikh Jassim, who is in charge of the Qatari group, said, “The bid wants to return the club to its former glory.”
Sheikh Jassim’s Nine Two Foundation will pay all of the bid’s debts. In addition, the foundation will put money into the football teams, the training center, the stadium and other infrastructure, the fan experience, and the communities that the club helps. The bid says that its goal is for Manchester United to be known as the best soccer team in the world.
Ineos hasn’t said anything yet, but it’s thought that the proposal will stress that Ratcliffe, born in Manchester, would be “a British guardian for the club” and try to “put the Manchester back into Manchester United.”
The 70-year-old British billionaire Ratcliffe owns the Ineos group. He has always put money into sports, and now he owns the French Ligue 1 club Nice and the Swiss club Lausanne.
It also has a famous sailing team called Ineos Britannia. Sir Ben Ainslie is in charge of the team, which wants to win America’s Cup for Great Britain in 2024.
Ineos also has a five-year contract with the Formula 1 team Mercedes, and in 2019, it bought the British cycling team Team Sky.
Sheikh Jassim is the head of the Qatari bank QIB and the son of a former Qatari prime minister. He has always been a fan of Manchester United.
His group should have said how much money they were planning to pay for the club.
Saudi Arabia has shown interest, and the US will likely make at least two offers for the United.
This means that up to five parties could be trying to negotiate a full sale, while others could be looking to make a smaller investment in exchange for a smaller share of the 20-time English league champions.
Even though he might not have a direct role in the club, Nasser al-Khelaifi, president of Paris St. Germain, is likely to be a key figure in any bid by Qatar to buy the club.
The company Al-Khelaifi runs, Qatar Sports Investment (QSI), was thinking about buying a smaller share of a Premier League club.
But Uefa rules say that one person can’t own more than one club, so Qatar would have to work with private people or a different group to buy all of United.
Human rights and LGBTQ+ groups are worried that Qatar might buy a Premier League club and then own two of the biggest teams in Europe.
People in the Gulf state look confused when they talk about Qatar possibly buying Manchester United and a possible conflict of interest because Qatar already owns Paris Saint-Germain.
They think that about half of the Premier League clubs are owned by more than one group.
The fact that Manchester City is part of the City Football Group is one example. Daniel Kretinsky is Sparta Prague’s president and owns a part of West Ham. Last year, both teams were in the Europa League.
They also know that Ratcliffe wants to buy United and that there is no sign that he will give up control of French club Nice, which is only four points away from a spot in Europe.
Also, Uefa has already given RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg permission to play in the same European tournaments.
Since Nasser al-Khelaifi is the chairman of both PSG and the European Clubs’ Association, which has been working more closely with Uefa, it is safe to assume that any problems have been solved.
But sources say this offer has nothing to do with who owns PSG. It’s also clear that the bid is just an idea. Moreover, according to sources, the information in United’s “data room” has been disappointing.
Now, the Old Trafford club’s financial information must all be made public.
People think this is just the start of the process, but Sheikh Jassim is serious about taking the club away from the Glazer family for the first time since 2005. He also wants to put money into the Trafford area as a whole.
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He likes Manchester United and has been to a game or two. He could have bid on Chelsea, which sold for £4.25 billion last year, but he didn’t. He thinks that this is an opportunity he can’t miss.
