2023-07-06 15:19:31
By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 2 minutes ago, Just updated
Jim Ratcliffe still hopes to be able to buy Manchester United. ERIC GAILLARD / PANORAMIC
The American billion said on Tuesday that his offer to buy the Red Devils did not have to be ashamed of that from the Gulf.
While rumors that the offer from Qatar could prevail in the race to buy the club from Manchester United are multiplying, the American billionaire Jim Ratcliffe estimated on Wednesday evening that his offer was “Goodand assured that he remained “very concentratedon this acquisition.
«We have (submitted) a good offer. We have met the (Manchester United owners, family) Glazer several times and had good conversations, but in the end the decision is up to them.“Said the billionaire, according to the English press, during the presentation of a book on the 25 years of the petrochemical group Ineos which he founded.
A sale that drags on
In recent weeks, the press had echoed unsourced rumors claiming that the Glazers were about to enter into exclusive negotiations with the chairman of the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad al- Thani, Ratcliffe’s rival.
The Qatari banker wants to take full control of the club for a record sum estimated at 6.5 billion euros, while Ratcliffe, who already owns French teams Nice in Ligue 1 and Lausanne in Switzerland, wants to take control with a majority stake, but alongside minority shareholders which could include Joel and Avram Glazer, co-presidents of the club.
Launched in November, the sales process drags on but without tiring Ratcliffe.
«We still really want (to buy the club). I also think we would do a good job there and for the right reasons.“, he dropped in an allusion to the geopolitical motivations of the investments coming from the Gulf countries in football, while he is a supporter of United since childhood.
«We don’t make clubs like Manchester United anymore“, he continued, “it’s like art or that kind of thing that (…) continues to increase in value over time because it’s very special and rare».
He also made foot calls to supporters who for years have taken a dislike to the Glazers, who arrived in 2005 at the head of the club, ensuring that they were not “here to make moneyand guaranteeing that, if he took charge of the club, Old Trafford would not be subject to a naming contract giving him the name of his company Ineos.
«My God no ! That would be heresy!he exclaimed.
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