Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘sets maximum price’ he’ll pay for Man Utd

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe is unwilling to meet the £6billion asking price demanded by the Glazer family in order to sell Manchester United, according to reports. The Red Devils were put up for sale by their current owners towards the end of last year and several interested parties have since been linked with a potential takeover in the not-too-distant future.

Investment groups from Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been tipped to make big-money bids for United over the last few weeks, while Ratcliffe is known to have concrete interest in taking over from the Glazers at some point before the end of the season. However, he is only willing to pay up to £4bn for the privilege of running the Red Devils, according to GFFN.

It is claimed that no agreement is close to see Ratcliffe buy United as things stand, with the Ineos chief still needing to bridge the gap between the Glazers’ asking price and the fee that he is prepared to shell out. It seems as though the existing benchmark of £6bn could suit a Qatari bid instead unless Ratcliffe decides to alter his stance on meeting the full figure, which could change if he manages to secure external investment from other entities.

He is said to have been in negotiations with US investment banking firms Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as of late but talks are currently believed to be at a standstill, leading to Ratcliffe staying firm on his £4bn mark at present. However, it remains to be seen whether he would be willing to match the £6bn demanded by the Glazers if he manages to get the two organisations on board over the coming weeks.

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Ratcliffe is a keen supporter of United and has hinted at an interest in buying the club when quizzed on the topic on a number of previous occasions. He said in October of last year that he once enquired about the possibility of a takeover but was met with firm resistance from the Glazers, although the wealthy American family’s stance has softened in the months since.

“Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family, whom I have met,” explained Ratcliffe at a Financial Times event. “I’ve met Joel and Avram and they are the nicest people, I have to say, they are proper gentlemen.

“They don’t want to sell it. It’s owned by the six children of the father and they don’t want to sell it. If it had been for sale in the summer then, yes, we would have probably had a go following on from the Chelsea thing, but we can’t sit around hoping that one day Manchester United will become available.

“We have an exciting sporting franchise [Ligue 1 club Nice], but the one thing we don’t have is a Premier [League] team. The most popular sport in the world is football and it is the sport we were brought up with and it’s the one most close to us. We really should have an asset in the sporting franchise.”

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