Manchester United have reportedly rejected Sheikh Jassim’s attempts to buy the club as takeover talks continue. The Red Devils’ current owners, the Glazer family, announced one year ago that they were seeking ‘a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives’ when it comes to financing the club.
In all but name it was a statement welcoming offers to buy or invest in one of the biggest clubs in the world but has not gone smoothly so far. 12 months on and there is still no clear route towards a change of hands for the club despite numerous claims of a preferred bidder being chosen throughout.
Coming to the fore in these talks has been Qatari banker Jassim and INEOS owner Jim Ratcliffe. However, that appears to have changed with Fabrizio Romano reporting that Jassim’s team have confirmed that they have been withdrawn from the process.
He writes on Twitter: “Sheikh Jassim has presented a full cash bid, clearing all old debt, with zero new debt, for 100% of the Club.” He added on Youtube: “At the moment the takeover with the Qatari group is more than complicated, we always have to wait for the official steps but that is the feeling.
“What happened is in the recent days Sheikh Jassim and his team, his group, had new conversations, new discussions, new negotiations with the Glazer’s family advisors to discuss Manchester United and Sheikh Jassim presented a kind of new structure and proposal to buy Manchester United.
“The answer from the Glazers in recent days from this discussion was very clear, they said again no to the proposal of Sheikh Jassim.”
It leaves United in a state of continued flux and remains one of the biggest stories in the league currently as Erik ten Hag’s men languish in 10th place in the league. Having already lost six games in all competitions the former Ajax manager has come under pressure despite leading the club to a third-place finish last year and the Carabao Cup.
This year has not brought the improvement expected though despite big money transfers for Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund and the Old Trafford faithful have continued to turn their anger towards those running the club with mass protests.
United already appear to be distracted both on and off the pitch and are sitting five points off the current Champions League places. It’s another three points more to Arsenal and Tottenham at the top of the table whilst Chelsea are gaining on them after a recent run of form and are just one point behind.
As well as complicating matters off the field and likely contributing to an increasingly toxic atmosphere, the latest news and the decision made to effectively cut Jassim from talks could also impact how the club go about transfer business.
January could be a key month in deciding how the second half of the season pans out with a queue of teams looking set to fight for additional firepower. However, not only could this takeover delay cause uncertainty to prospective players, it might leave the Glazers in-between a rock and a hard place.
If they remain committed to trying to sell the club then it is logical that they won’t be prepared to launch extra money into new players midway through the sale process and even if they did it may well put off potential new signings due to the state of the club. Such is the complex nature of the sale so far there is no timeframe and that only adds to the issues facing United but also act as benefits to the rest of the team.
