Man Utd takeover insider reveals Jassim is ‘very real’ and ‘said no’ to Glazer request to ‘get deal’
According to the banker who sold Manchester United, Sheikh Jassim is “very real” but he “didn’t appreciate the value” of the Premier League giants.
It was recently confirmed that INEOS chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe has purchased a 27.7% stake in the Premier League giants and this deal has seen him take control of footballing matters at Old Trafford.
“We met Jassim…”
Ratcliffe initially wanted to become United’s majority stakeholder right away but a compromise was eventually reached so he could agree to a deal with the Glazer family.
Other bidders were in the running to buy Man Utd and he faced fierce competition from Qatar’s Jassim.
It was widely reported last year that Jassim submitted several bids for Man Utd but he ended up deciding against meeting the Glazer’s reported £5bn asking price.
Since completing his deal to become Man Utd’s new co-owner, Ratcliffe joked Jassim might not “exist” following a really “odd” saga.
But merchant banker Joe Ravitch – who works for the Raine Group – has commented on Jassim during an interview with Matt Lawton for The Times.
Ravitch has suggested Jassim is a “lovely guy” and the “Qataris were very real”.
“We met Jassim,” Ravitch said in an interview for The Times. “He was in New York. He’s a lovely guy; a very smart guy. The Qataris were very real.
“They were very smart guys, very thoughtful. I don’t know why they didn’t appreciate the value [of the club] but we were not their adviser.
“We tried as the seller to explain the value to them, and they put what they thought was a series of very serious bids on the table.”
“They said no…”
Ravitch has also revealed that Jassim and Watar were “very conscious of criticism if they were seen to be overpaying” as they refused to pay what the Glazer family wanted.
“My clients [the Glazers] are also smart guys. We thought the value would be around $6.5 billion [about £5billion], so we were kind of spot on with regards to where Ratcliffe ended up,” Ravitch added.
READ MORE: Transfer Gossip… Man Utd eye ‘maximum returns’ from £135m-rated duo, City target Toon star
“But when the Washington Commanders [NFL team] went for $6 billion we all thought: ‘Well, United is the most important sports team in the world; more than a billion fans. The Commanders own one 32nd of the NFL. Their economics are severely limited by the commercial sharing caps placed on it by the league. We know that because the Glazers also own a NFL team. Therefore if someone is willing to pay six billion for the Commanders, someone should be willing to pay more for United.’
“I think the Qataris got to about $5.75 billion. We said to them, ‘You’re within 10 per cent, why don’t you get in a room and try to get to a deal.’ But they said no. I think they were very conscious of criticism if they were seen to be overpaying.
“Ultimately we think they would have been good owners but we think the Glazers made the right decision not to take the lesser value, and go with Ratcliffe instead.”
