Man Utd takeover: Expert exposes ‘advanced’ deal as Beckham ‘approach’ shut down for one reason

Journalist Ben Jacobs has commented on a potential Manchester United takeover and has shut down speculation regarding an “approach” to David Beckham.

There has been a lot of change at Man Utd over the past couple of years.

At the start of 2024, the Glazer family sold a 27% stake of the Premier League giants to INEOS chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in turn took control of football operations at Old Trafford.

This deal was worth around £1.25bn and Ratcliffe has since made a further investment to increase his share to around 29%, though he has been heavily criticised over his decisions since joining the club.

Ratcliffe inherited a mess and decided to sanction a brutal cost-cutting programme to balance the books, though some have argued that certain changes were needless, as there have been mass redundancies, reduced payments to club legends and ticket prices have been hiked.

This means that the British billionaire has quickly become a villain at Man Utd, so recent reports surrounding a potential takeover have been met with positivity.

It has been claimed that an UAE-based consortium are plotting a full takeover of Man Utd and have made ‘approaches’ to several club legends, including David Beckham, over their potential involvement. 

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian boxing promoter Turki Al-Sheikh has claimed that a deal is ‘advanced’.

However, Jacobs, who has regularly reported on the Man Utd takeover saga over the past couple of years, has pointed out that Al-Sheikh’s comments were “misleading”, while Beckham is unlikely to be involved.

“So I think now, as is quite widely reported, the interest in buying Manchester United comes predominantly from the UAE,” Jacobs said on the United Stand podcast.

READ: Do Manchester United have the quality to offset ‘the new Ji-sung Park’?

“The group haven’t made any offer to the Glazers. They haven’t even engaged in talks. So it can be simultaneously true that Manchester United are quite in the dark, and yet, there is a consortium out there that is building, and Turki Al-Sheikh tweet got everyone excited.

“The word advanced was misleading. And although the consortium are maybe getting advanced in terms of where their money’s from and what it entails, it’s not advanced between a bidder, and Manchester United, in fact, quite the opposite.

“The Glazers are still waiting to see whether anything actually materialises, and we still don’t know whether they would sell imminently, ie, within the next two years or less.

“But within the UAE, what this consortium, as they build, have done is gone to ex Manchester United legends, including, as I revealed, Eric Cantona are as a possible ambassador, not at investor. We’ve heard David Beckham mentioned as well.”

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Man Utd make ‘transfer U-turn’ as Amorim ‘won over’; Romano reveals Rashford ‘very clear messages’
👉 Man Utd internally ‘struck’ by summer signing for one reason amid false ‘warning’ on another newbie
👉 Why Keane is baffled by Amorim ‘love’ of Man Utd starter – ‘That’s a head-scratcher’

On the fabricated Beckham reports, he continued: “I have great respect for other journalists, so I’m not here to shout down anyone’s reporting.

“You may recall when I first broke this on talks, but I said a series of ex-Manchester United legends have been approached.

“But I have my doubts about David Beckham, because when Sheik Jassim approached David Beckham, and when Qatar 2022 approached David Beckham, he was willing to do stuff, but only after Qatar won, and only after, and he didn’t Sheikh Jassim won.

“So I’d be surprised if David Beckham considered putting his name or his endorsement to any potential bidder for Manchester United until the point came where they were actually in the club, and then he may be open to some kind of involvement.

Whereas there are other Manchester United legends that would be prepared to endorse a consortium even if it didn’t develop, even if it was just a publicity stunt, even if they never held any talks with the Glazers. So that’s kind of where we’re at the moment. Let’s see whether or not it develops.”

Jacobs later pointed out that Ratcliffe “is not that fearful” about losing power as the takeover situation is “relatively quiet”.

“I think the lines of communication are open enough that Ratcliffe, in agreeing to this sale, including the drag clause, is not that fearful that the Glazers are going to go in the next year or two, definitively in 100%,” Jacobs continued.

“But let’s see if there’s a pathway to a strategic investor, or let’s see whether a consortium just blows the valuation of the Dragon claws out the water, in which case we may have to reconsider the position of all parties.

“But right now, it’s relatively quiet on the takeover front, even though Turki Al-Sheikh got everybody very excited.”