Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been warned that the Glazers are “using” him in order to get Sheikh Jassim to pay a higher price for Manchester United amid their ongoing takeover process. The current owners are yet to name a preferred bidder after a third round of offers, while the Qatari-backed bid later made a fourth improved attempt to gazump the INEOS chief who had reportedly moved ahead of Jassim.
The Glazers reportedly have maintained that their asking price for the club is £6billion, £1bn for each of the family siblings, but so far neither Jassim nor Ratcliffe have met that valuation. Despite initial reports suggesting that the Brit was ahead of Jassim, no confirmation has been made that he is the preferred option of the Glazers.
Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has warned Ratcliffe that the Glazers are “using” him in order to get a better offer out of Jassim, as he fully expects the club to be sold to Qatar.
“Man United will be expecting to make some big-name signings but there is huge uncertainty surrounding who the club’s next owners will be,” Collymore wrote in his CaughtOffside column.
“In my opinion, although it’s turned into a bit of a circus, it’s quite straightforward – the Glazers know Sheikh Jassim can pay pretty much whatever he wants and Sir Jim Ratcliffe can’t, so they’re using Sir Jim as a way to force Jassim into upping his offer in order to get as much as they can before they sail off into the sunset, and hopefully are never heard of again.
“If Man United is sold, I am sure it’ll be to Qatari owners. The biggest problem could be the time in which it happens though. Ten Hag needs a resolution in place as soon as possible, because the longer this goes on, the longer its going to take his plans for next season to get into motion.”
The Athletic have claimed that Jassim is considering a fifth bid for United after directly speaking with the Glazers, as opposed to the Raine Group, regarding his fourth offer to purchase the club.
The type of feedback given on their fourth offer will dictate whether a fifth bid is launched, as he is said to not have given up on beating Ratcliffe.
Both parties are now awaiting further response from the Glazers or the Raine Group over who will be named the preferred bidder, while so far Jassim has not met the current owners’ demands despite Collymore’s belief that Ratcliffe is being used in order to leverage more money out of the Qatari-backed bid.
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