Man Utd takeover: UAE-based consortium ‘approach’ David Beckham with bid ‘prepared’
A UAE-based consortium, who are hoping to buy Man Utd, have approached David Beckham over a potential role in the deal, according to reports.
The Red Devils fanbase were sent into a frenzy last week with wealthy Saudi Arabian boxing promoter Turki Al-Sheikh insisting that an interested party are at ‘an advanced stage’ of buying Man Utd.
Al-Sheikh wrote on X: ‘The best news I heard today is that Manchester United is now in an advanced stage of completing a deal to sell to a new investor – I hope he’s better than the previous owners.’
But, after realising that some Man Utd fans were speculating that he or another Saudi Arabian was looking at buying the club, Al-Sheikh clarified his comments.
Posting again the day after, Al-Sheikh wrote: ‘My yesterday’s post about Manchester United’s potential sale meant one thing: the club is in an advanced negotiation phase with a new investor.
‘Just to clarify, I am not the investor, nor are they from my nation. I’m posting this as a fan who wishes the deal to happen, though it might not necessarily happen.’
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Reports suggested that the group wanting to buy Man Utd is a UAE-based consortium with Red Devils officials apparently holding a ‘meeting’ with them earlier this week.
And now, according to the Star and Mirror (via The Independent), ‘the consortium would like former United winger Beckham to be an ambassador for the bid’.
Beckham has been ‘approached to back a takeover bid’ with the group reportedly ‘preparing to make an offer to buy the Glazers’ majority shareholding in the club’.
When asked in July 2023 if the Glazers should go, Beckham said in an interview with The Athletic: “I think so. I think it’s purely because the fans want it.
“Once you lose the fans, especially at a club like Manchester United, it’s hard to get them back.
“Obviously, they (the Glazers) have achieved a lot, and financially, the fact we’re even talking about the numbers of what Manchester United will sell for shows the success they’ve had. But there needs to be change. We’ve all seen that, we all know that.”
On whether he could see himself having a role at Man Utd in the future, Beckham added: “I have a lot going on here at the moment and my focus has purely been on Miami and everything that goes on in my business.
“But I haven’t been approached and I suppose any involvement with Manchester United would mean the world to me, going forward. But who knows?
“We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks or months. Hopefully, a decision gets made and if I’m involved in any way… if not, I’ll be a United fan and just do what all the other fans are doing – turn up and watch our team.”
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Football finance expert Dan Plumley has described the potential implications of Man Utd’s share price increasing by eight per cent amid recent takeover rumours.
Plumley told Football Insider: “It’s a reaction to the media stuff we saw around the Saudi Arabia potential, the quote from the fairly well renowned Saudi Arabia individual who put this out there and speculated around a takeover that’s what’s driven the share price up ultimately.
“It’s absolutely fuelled by speculation around a takeover. For what it means for the club, it’s more for the shareholders, the investors, any share price going up reflects positively on them ultimately and that means that the share price is higher.
“It won’t make too big a difference to the day-to-day finances and the operations of the club. In terms of the share price going up you treat those things as good news stories for a company that the share price is increasing.
“That share price ultimately is going to benefit the shareholders and the investors at a certain point in time, which is again the other side of the coin with this one because the current owners don’t look like they want to sell right now and Jim Ratcliffe came in for the minority stakes so its them who would benefit from a share increase but obviously they are not looking to sell the club.”
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