Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani reportedly remains confident of beating Sir Jim Ratcliffe to the eye-watering £6billion purchase of Manchester United. It is claimed that the son of the former Qatari prime minister is still ‘fully engaged’ with the process and believes the bid is the best for the Premier League club.
Sheikh Jassim is in the process of making his second lucrative bid for the Red Devils on Wednesday evening. Ratcliffe is also set to make another offer in the hope of beating the Qatar-backed bid.
Both groups supposedly believe they are the only parties interested in a full purchase of United. A partial sale has also been mooted by controversial owners the Glazer Family.
There apparently remains doubt that the Glazers will sell at all. Both offers are expected to fall well short of the Americans’ asking price of £6bn in the first round of bidding, with the Raine Group opening a second round of the process which had a deadline of 9pm on Wednesday evening, though that deadline had to be extended.
According to the Daily Mail, both groups have not yet submitted fresh offers for the club but will do so imminently. Sheikh Jassim is reportedly ‘confident’ that his plans are the best available to United.
The Qatari bid included plans to write off the club’s debt and invest heavily in the men’s and women’s squads, the facilities and the wider area. Ratcliffe, meanwhile, promised to “put the Manchester back into Manchester”.
New second bids are reported to total around £5bn, still short of the Glazers’ valuation. Neither group are willing to pay over the odds, with both offers already would-be world records for a sports club.
Whoever the new owners are will likely face huge costs on their first day in the job. Old Trafford needs major upgrades that would reportedly total between £1bn and £2bn.
The Carrington training base also needs costly repairs. There is also the question of the summer transfer window on the horizon, with Erik ten Hag likely to demand huge upgrades as he seeks to challenge for the Premier League title next season.
Should a full takeover fail to materialise, the Glazers have opened the door for partial investment. However, that is unlikely to go down with a fanbase who protest against their ownership at every home match.
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