Qatar and Ratcliffe on the Red Devils – Corriere.it

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, nephew of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, owner of Paris Saint-Germainhas formalized its monster offer to buy Manchester United.

Jassim, 44, president of QIB, Qatar Islamic Bank, head of a consortium that on Friday evening – a few hours after the closing of the deadline for offers to the Red Devils, on sale since last November – announced that he had presented the documents. The statement released did not provide details on the amount proposed in the offer for the club, but the price could vary between 4.5 and 6 billion euroswhile the current owners — the American Glazer family, who took over the team in 2005 for 1.16 billion euros (790 million pounds), are asking for 6.7.

The offer provides for bring the club back to its former glory both on and off the field and, above all, I will try to bring the fans back to the center of Manchester United Football Club, the Qatari consortium said, adding that the offer will be made through the Nine Two Foundation, which will seek to invest in the football clubs, training center, stadium and infrastructure, the fan experience and the communities supported by the club. It should be noted that during the World Championship Jassim was repeatedly seen talking to friend David Beckhamknown in the UK when he attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, where Princes William and Harry were also trained.

To take over United there is also the interest of the British entrepreneur Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of the chemical giant Ineos, who had come forward last month (after having tried in recent years with Chelsea and having acquired Nice and Lausanne in France and Switzerland). At the moment these two are the only public statements, but Friday evening’s deadline is a soft deadline that could also be revised. The Glazers – who have never entered the hearts of the fans also due to the failed Superlega project – have declared that they are open to both minority investments and a complete sale of the share package. But the latter now seems to be the only option left on the table.

Meanwhile, United manager Erik ten Hag — fresh from a 2-2 Europa League draw in the first leg of the round of 16 in Barcelona — has explained that sales rumors won’t be able to distract him or his team ahead of Sunday’s clash in the Premier League League with Leicester. our club and of course we follow the situation. But we are focused on football, training and our way of playing.

Not only Manchester United is up for sale at the moment: after Chelsea, forced to change ownership due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Roman Abramovich in May had to leave Todd Boehly, who immediately invested monstrous figures — even Tottenham and Liverpool could change hands. On the Spurs there is MSP Sports Capital – minority shareholder of the Phoenix Suns in the NBA – of the American of Iranian origin Jahm Najafi; on the Reds, on the other hand, there are no news on the offer front, but in October the owners of Fenway Sports had taken action by asking investment banks to find buyers.

At the moment 15 out of 20 clubs in the Premier League are in foreign hands, and 8 of these plus the partially Italian Leeds (Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Liverpool, partly Manchester City and Manchester United) belong to the United States. For the rest there are Iranian Everton, Thai Leicester, Saudi Newcastle, Greek Nottingham Forest, Serbian Southampton and Chinese Wolverhampton.