Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe are prepared to wait until 2025 to complete a potential takeover of Manchester United, following the lack of progress in talks with the club’s current owners.
Manchester United’s current ownership, the Glazer family, announced last November of their intention to field offers for the Premier League club, with Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim and British billionaire Ratcliffe emerging as the leading candidates to take over from the controversial American owners.
However, despite several months of negotiations and multiple bids from a number of parties, a resolution appears no closer with doubts over whether the Glazers are still intentioned to sell.
Reports from the Mail on Sunday last week said the Glazers were holding out for a record-breaking sum of £10 billion for the Red Devils, a report which led to the biggest ever single-day fall in the club’s share price (18.2%). The current record sale for a sports team is the £4.25 billion required to purchase Chelsea in 2022.
According to The Guardian, neither Sheikh Jassim or Ratcliffe have set a timeframe on which to conclude a deal and each are prepared to ‘play the long game’ to takeover at Old Trafford.
There has been suggestions that the Glazers could wait until 2025 to sell up, when increased television rights from an expanded Champions League and Club World Cup could make the club more valuable.
