The buzz around a takeover at Manchester United is slowly ebbing out into nothing after a year of speculation following the Glazer family’s announcement last year.
The Glazer family, with Joel and Avram Glazer spearheading the leadership group at the summit of the club’s hierarchy, announced last year that they were open to investment.
As a result, some of the world’s leading figures expressed their interest in acquiring the club from the American family but negotiations have been lengthy and as things stand, a takeover is not imminent.
Sheikh Jassim and his Qatari consortium have gone head-to-head with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s wealthiest businessmen in several rounds of bidding.
None of the submitted bids have been enough to convince the Glazers of a full sale and now, journalist Fabrizio Romano has provided a spicy new update on the situation.
As per Romano, Jassim has held additional talks with the Glazers in a bid to purchase the club outright but his offer was rejected out of hand once more and as a result, Jassim has informed the Glazers that he is ready to withdraw himself from the process.
In another post, Romano added that Jassim’s offer to buy the club was for 100% of the shares, clearing all current debt without adding any new debt.
Jassim’s team are said to have declined to explain further but confirmed that they were no longer in the running to become United’s next owners.
Jassim’s withdrawal from the race to buy the club leaves the Glazers with Ratcliffe as the only party ready to commit to a full takeover but recently, there have been suggestions that Ratcliffe, who grew up as a United supporter, could also be ready to acquire a minority stake.