Man Utd takeover: Glazers finally decide on new owners with ‘announcement soon’
The Glazers could finally be on the verge of selling Man Utd with reports in Qatar claiming Sheikh Jassim has won the race to take control of the club.
Man Utd announced in November that the Premier League club was exploring “strategic alternatives” to enhance the club’s growth, with a full sale one option on the table.
Both Sheikh Jassim, the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank and the son of a former Qatari prime minister, and INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe have lodged public bids for a takeover of the club.
Ratcliffe met the deadline for the third round of bidding at the end of April but the Sheikh and his Nine Two Foundation have since made two more offers for 100 per cent of Man Utd.
Sheikh Jassim submitted his fifth and final bid for the club last week and insisted there would be no more negotiations after Friday, although that offer would remain on the table beyond that point.
Growing confidence in the Ratcliffe camp was the reason for Sheikh Jassim making two more bids but now the Qatar-based Al Watan newspaper claims Sheikh Jassim has had ‘success’ and there will be an ‘announcement of the deal soon’.
And Man Utd legend Gary Neville will be glad when the deal goes through as “everyone’s bored” of the situation now with the Glazers eroding “every little last bit of energy out of everything”.
“Everyone’s bored now. Honestly, I think everyone has got the point whereby what the Glazers do, they erode every little last bit of energy out of everything that they do,” Neville insisted on The Overlap.
“The fans have had enough, they want them out and I think to be fair – it’s sad, really, that it’s come to that but that’s exactly how I think everybody feels.
“They know nothing about Manchester or the north west of England and the tradition of football in this part.
“They have not embedded themselves in the local culture.”
Ligue 1 side Nice, who are owned by Ratcliffe and INEOS, could be the big winners if Jassim is announced as the new Man Utd owner with their budget currently reduced after being impacted by attempts to buy the Red Devils.
And French newspaper L’Equipe claims that Nice’s ‘budget will depend on’ the outcome of the Man Utd takeover process as the Ligue 1 side ‘will not splurge’ unless the deal collapses.
READ MORE: Mediawatch: Man Utd need to ‘get cracking’ because the transfer window OPENS in two days
