Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments on Glazers with ‘Man Utd takeover close’

Ratcliffe leaves Old Trafford after Man Utd takeover talks

It emerged on Sunday that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was ‘close’ to reaching a Manchester United takeover agreement with the Glazers. The INEOS chief has apparently made a ‘best of both worlds offer’ that has tempted the Americans, who have ruled the roost ever since 2005. And, barring a late twist, he’s primed to be the next owner of the Red Devils.

The Daily Record claimed a deal was on the verge of being agreed between Ratcliffe and the Glazers, in what is poised to be a controversial development.

The Ineos chief is prepared to let brothers Joel and Avram keep a 20 per cent stake in the club, while they’ll also be permitted to sell their shares for a premium rate over the next couple of years.

And Ratcliffe has previously hailed the siblings, saying they are the ‘nicest people’ and ‘proper gentlemen’.

Back in October, he said: “Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family, whom I have met.

“I’ve met Joel and Avram and they are the nicest people, I have to say, they are proper gentlemen.

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“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 side 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.”

Then, earlier in the year, Ratcliffe made it clear he wouldn’t pay ‘stupid’ money to acquire United.

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“How do you decide the price of a painting? How do you decide the price of a house?” he said.

“It’s not related to how much it cost to build or how much it cost to paint.

“What you don’t want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently.”

While Ratcliffe has praised the Glazers, however, he’s also criticised the club for their transfer dealings in recent years.

Back in 2019 he singled out Fred, saying the Red Devils paid ‘dumb’ money for the Brazil international.

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“They haven’t got the manager selection right, haven’t bought well,” Ratcliffe told the Times.

“They have been the dumb money, which you see with players like Fred.

“United have spent an immense amount since Ferguson left and been poor, to put it mildly.

“Shockingly poor, to be honest. We have a different approach here [at Nice] to be moderately intelligent about it. Try to do it more grassroots, trying to locate young talent.

“Some clubs seem to have an ability to do that, Southampton, Lille.

“United have done it really poorly. They have lost the plot.”

Meanwhile, upon visiting United back in March, Ratcliffe met Erik ten Hag.

And the Dutchman opened up on that meeting at the time by saying: “I just met them and shook hands but I am focused on the game.

“We play a big game on Sunday and all our focus is on that. Others in the club are dealing with potential investors.

“My job is to focus on the game so let’s talk about the game Fulham, it is a big tie so let’s get ready for that.”

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