World renowned golfer Rory McIlroy has admitted he would consider the possibility of investing in Manchester United.
British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe looks set to buy an initial 25% stake in Manchester United and now there’s bound to speculation over him joining forces with other big players in sport such as McIlroy.
The Ineos founder appears to have won the takeover race after Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani withdrew a state-backed offer to buy the club a week ago. As a result, Ratcliffe is hoping to take control over all sporting decisions at United should his bid – worth approximately £1.3bn – gain approval from the Glazer family.
However, Ratcliffe has his fingers in many pies already, and he has spent a lot of money investing in sport down the years. He owns two football clubs (FC Lausanne-Sport and Nice), the Team Sky cycling franchise and is a credited partner of Mercedes AMG F1. INEOS also have a sponsorship deal in place with New Zealand Rugby.
Ratcliffe’s sporting portfolio will become even more impressive if he can add a stake of Manchester United to it, and you can see why someone like McIlroy would want to enter the Ineos circle. The outspoken golfer recently invested in the Alpine F1 team and ahead of the sprint race at the US Grand Prix on Saturday, the 34-year-old admitted it would be nice to do the same with his boyhood football club.
McIlroy told Sky Sports: “Sports team ownership used to be limited to private equity and people who had a ton of money. But now sports stars are becoming more savvy and using their money in the right way.
“I would love to be able to own a tiny percentage of the club I grew up cheering on as a boy. I would have loved to have taken 0.00001 per cent of Manchester United when Jim Ratcliffe took 25 per cent.
“And if another opportunity comes my way, I will look at it. But it is not something that has come across our table as of yet.”
Now McIlroy is in the F1 circle, I’m sure there will be time for interesting conversations should Ratcliffe’s bid for United reach an agreement in the coming months.
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