Manchester United have informed parties interested in buying the club that there will be a third round of bidding as the Glazers keep their options open.
There are multiple offers to buy the club including a group led by Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and another from Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The Glazers have pushed back their deadline to complete a sale of the club with the ownership situation at Old Trafford still unclear.
The Glazer family are exploring outside investment or a full sale of the club they bought 18 years ago. The Americans are deeply unpopular among the club's fans, with the Red Devils having gone a decade without winning the Premier League title.
Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim still haven’t met the Glazer family’s £6billion valuation - and are understood to both be more than £1billion short of the asking price being demanded. They are believed to be the only parties interested in a full acquisition of the club.
At least two of the six Glazer siblings are understood to prefer an option which would see an outside investor buy a stake in the club to help finance huge capital projects like the redevelopment of the Old Trafford stadium and Carrington training ground.
However, Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim are both likely to renew their attempts to buy United – but this latest development appears to benefit the Ineos owner. Ratcliffe had always wanted to wait until the end of the season before making a final decision on a bid, as this would allow him to fully assess United’s financial health and outlooks – depending on income from the season and potential Champions League qualification.
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The businessman already owns French club Nice and the drag in the negotiating process, which the Glazers had initially hoped to conclude by April, appears to favour him.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last month, Ratcliffe explained: “How do you decide the price of a painting? How do you decide the price of a house? It’s not related to how much it cost to build or how much it cost to paint.
“What you don’t want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently.” Ratcliffe added that his interest in United would be “purely in winning things”, calling the club a “community asset”.
Sheikh Jassim, the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank, is the son of a former Qatari prime minister and has previously claimed that this bid is a private initiative that is not connected to the Qatari state and is instead through his Nine Two Foundation. Should his bid be accepted – that claim would be examined through vetting processes.
Qatar Sports Investment – who share a direct link to the Qatari state – are likely to increase their investment into Paris Saint-Germain and remain committed to the French club amid interest in buying Spanish team Malaga. It is unclear if this will impact the bid for United – but the prolonging of the bidding process is likely to pour doubt on the situation.
