David Beckham has rubbished reports that he is set to become an ambassador for Manchester United if the Glazers set the club to Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
It has been well-documented in the past that Beckham has ties in Qatar since playing playing for Paris Saint-Germain and striking a deal to become their ambassador for the FIFA World Cup last year.
So, when in Qatar last weekend, Beckham said he knew who would be best to run Manchester United in the future. The suggestion led to reports that the former Academy graduate is in line for an ambassadorial role at Old Trafford.
But despite Qatar’s ongoing attempt to buy United, Beckham has gone on to dismiss those reports by stressing there has been ‘no discussion’ of him holding any role should their takeover bid be successful.
“At the moment there’s been no discussion,” Beckham told CNBC.
“I have had a long-standing relationship with Qatar because of my involvement with PSG… but there’s been no discussion at the moment.”
Sheikh Jassim is facing competition from INEOS chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who Bloomberg believe has an edge in the race to strike an agreement with the Glazer family. The Americans put the club up for sale 11 months ago.
However, at the premiere of David Beckham’s Netflix documentary in London last week, questions about his ambassadorial role with Qatar were inevitable. Reporters wanted to know his thoughts since he’s receiving millions to talks up Qatari interests to bolster their sports and tourism sector.
Beckham has been criticised for his involvement by numerous human rights groups, especially those representing LGBTQ people, with the retired footballer having long portrayed himself as an ally to the gay community.
On the red carpet at the premiere, Beckham denied that the backlash has hurt him.
“Whatever partnership I go into, we always do our homework on everything,” Beckham said, as per Sky News. “To be involved in another World Cup, for me, was important.
“This was an opportunity for the Arab world to host one of the biggest, if not the biggest, sporting events in the world.”
When it came to his critics, he added: “We knew there were going to be people that were going to either talk about it a little bit more, or let the football do the talking.”
Beckham went on to make a surprising claim about gay people in Qatar, which doesn’t add up since Equalex has ranked Qatar has one of the seven most LGBTQ-unfriendly nations on earth.
“I had a lot of conversations with the LBGTQ people when I was there. They said they’d been treated perfectly fine, they’d enjoyed the games. They felt it was the safest World Cup that they’d had for a long time.
“It was an important competition and one I was proud to be part of.”
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