Manchester United are preparing for a big shake-up following the news chief executive Richard Arnold is set to leave the club, amid reports Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to become a minority shareholder at the club.
The finer details are beginning to get rolled out and bits and parts are making news in the media.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Sports could announce a deal to buy 25% of the Red Devils for about $33-a-share early next week, according to Sky News’ Mark Kleinman.
United fans have been waiting on takeover news for the best part of a year, but it won’t be the takeover we all wanted because the Glazers are likely to remain, even if Ratcliffe secures control over football operations. It’s a mere step in the door and we can only hope it’s the beginning of the end of the Glazer family.
Sky News revealed that months of talks between Ineos billionaire and United’s controlling investors for the last 18 years have settled on a price of roughly $33-a-share.
This would represent a premium of more than 75% to Thursday’s New York Stock Exchange closing price of $18.43, which gave the club a market capitalisation of $3.04bn (£2.44bn).
Sources have told the reporter that a deal could be announced as soon as Monday, although it could slip by a couple of days. Elsewhere it has been stressed that ratification from the Premier League could take between six to eight weeks.
Furthermore, it is believed the Glazer family would like to finalise the deal before the US Thanksgiving holiday begins on Thursday.
Ratcliffe is expected to bring his own experts in to reshuffle the football structure at the club. With him, we could see figures like Paul Mitchell join after leaving his position as transfer guru at AS Monaco following successful stints at Southampton and Tottenham.
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