Late on Tuesday night, the Glazer family announced what many Manchester United fans have been waiting years to here, that the club was potentially up for sale. This was communicated via a statement on the club's official website.
The statement citing that United were looking a 'strategic alternatives' read: "As part of this process, the Board will consider all strategic alternatives, including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the Company.
"This will include an assessment of several initiatives to strengthen the club, including stadium and infrastructure redevelopment, and expansion of the club’s commercial operations on a global scale, each in the context of enhancing the long-term success of the club’s men’s, women’s and academy teams, and bringing benefits to fans and other stakeholders."
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A joint statement from Joel and Avram Glazer then followed. Fans were obviously overjoyed but then thoughts turned to how much will the Glazer's be asking for United?
The i newspaper are reporting that the Glazers are hoping to agree a deal in the region of £5billion if they are to sell United and have appointed financial advisors from the Raine Group and Rothschild & Co to explore these avenues. This would be a massive return on the £790m that bought the club back in 2005.
A sale in this region would make United the most expensive sports club of all time, dwarfing the £2.5bn sale of Chelsea but also the £3.87bn and £4.7bn sales of the NFL franchises the Denver Broncos and the Washington Commanders especially.
Forbes, however, most recently valued the club at around £3.7bn, and due to the strength of the dollar in recent months this has likely increased to £3.85bn.
Furthermore, sports finance expert Kieran Maguire recently stated on his Twitter account that: "Manchester United share price up 17% following announcement of potential sale by Glazers, has already added almost $400m to the club’s market capitalisation."
It seems the Glazers are taking into account the club's potential value with investment in the stadium, facilities, and playing squad rather than just focusing on United's current value. Hopefully, this does not dissuade potential investors from making a bid.
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