In addition to Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has also made a bid for Manchester United. The British businessman, whose wealth is estimated at 14.1 billion euros, owns OGC Nice, the Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport and INEOS, a chemical company, among others. Ratcliffe’s bid for the Red Devils is said to be around EUR 4.5 billion.
The deadline for interested parties to make a bid for Erik ten Hag’s club expired at 11 p.m. on Friday evening. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani made an offer for the club around 9 p.m., which also amounted to around 4.5 billion euros, according to various British media. The Daily Mail reports that the chances are ‘very high’ that there will be ‘two or three rounds in which the parties will have to bid against each other’.
Ratcliffe has big plans for the club when he becomes the new owner, INEOS said in an official statement on Saturday morning. “We are very ambitious and competitive and want to invest in Manchester United to make it the best club in the world again. We want to get the city of Manchester back into Manchester United and focus on winning the Champions League.” With the offers from the Qatari sheikh and Ratcliffe, it seems that the fans of the Red Devils finally get what they’ve been asking for for a long time: the sale of United. The last league title dates back to 2013, something the supporters hold the current owners – the Glazers – responsible for.
Before the first Premier League match this season under Ten Hag, there were still massive protests against the Glazers. The 1958 Group, a fanatical United supporters group, released a statement via social media before the new season. “The Glazers are unsuitable and inappropriate owners for our club. We have been communicating that all summer through our digital campaign, with which we have published a lot of new information about the family. We will always do everything we can to support the club.”