Manchester United are in the process of completing a partial takeover, and a report in the last 48 hours has revealed the exact timeline of when the first stage of the deal is expected to be completed.
Man United takeover news
The Red Devils were initially put up for sale by the Glazers in November 2022, who were reportedly looking to receive £6B in order to sell up, and there has only ever really been two main contenders who were seriously interested in splashing the cash.
The Old Trafford outfit had attracted interest from Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, with the former even having plans to offer David Beckham a role as a club ambassador (TalkSPORT), but a huge recent development put an end to his pursuit.
The Qatari businessman has recently withdrawn from the process following a breakdown in talks despite having had a new bid prepared, meaning that the INEOS chairman and chief executive officer Ratcliffe has automatically jumped into pole position to reach an agreement with the Premier League giants.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's takeover timeframe
According to Football Insider, Ratcliffe will complete part of the takeover before January at Man United.
“Sir Jim Ratcliffe is on course to complete the first stage of his Man United takeover within weeks and before the start of the New Year, sources have told Football Insider.
"Ratcliffe’s latest proposal is to acquire an initial 25 percent stake in the club in a deal worth around £1.4billion. The offer means that members of the Glazer family are set to retain voting power at the club.
"United’s board are currently finalising the details of the agreement before Ratcliffe’s investment is officially announced. It is understood that the 71-year-old will have no issues passing the Owners’ and Directors’ Test with the Premier League.
"There are no concerns from the Premier League about Ratcliffe’s source of funding via INEOS. Once the final details are agreed upon by both parties, the takeover process is set to accelerate quickly and Ratcliffe is expected [to join] United’s board by the end of the year.”
Should Ratcliffe’s proposal be accepted, there’s no doubt that the £1.4B would help the club financially, especially when it comes to Erik ten Hag receiving more backing with regards to being competitive in the transfer market and pursuing his top targets, having missed out on several stars in the past to some of his rivals in the top-flight.
Man United’s prospective new investor also appears to have other plans in the form of wanting to expand the stadium to a capacity of 90,000, a plan which he's already looking to accelerate as quickly as possible (The Mirror), alongside appointing a new sporting director with Paul Mitchell being the primary name mentioned so far.
However, supporters are likely to have been hoping that Jassim was the one to be joining the hierarchy considering that he wanted to complete a full takeover, meaning that fans would have finally seen the back of the Glazers, but it’s now a case of what could have been.
