NFL to blame for Glazers' REFUSAL to sell Man Utd

Tom Weber

Updated: 5 Sept 2023 09:26 BST
3 min read

Joel Glazer, Man Utd protest — © ProShots

The sale of the Washington Commanders may be the reason behind the Glazers' refusal to sell Manchester United.

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The takeover saga is still far from over. It has been rumbling on all year with seemingly no end in sight. It has influenced the Red Devils' summer business and left head coach Erik ten Hag fuming at times, yet we are seemingly no closer to a resolution.

On the contrary, recent reports suggested that the current owners, the Glazers, had made a surprising but not totally unexpected U-turn regarding their willingness to sell. It was said that they were no longer looking to sell as the two main bidders, Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, had failed to meet their valuation - but what their exact valuation is has never truly been known.

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90min now reports that other outlets may have jumped the gun in proclaiming the end of the takeover. It is claimed that the takeover process is still very much ongoing, but that there has been a change in the Glazers' valuation.

Man Utd 'worth a lot more'

This change, it is said, is due to the recent sale of the Washington Commanders of the NFL, the biggest sale of a sports club in history at £4.8 billion.

The Glazers, as owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, were involved in that process as they, like all NFL club owners, had to approve the sale of the Commanders. 90min writes that a takeover of this magnitude "is believed to have played a part in convincing the Glazers that they should be getting much more than £6bn for United, who are widely regarded as the biggest footballing brand in world football."

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The American owners "see United more comparable with the Dallas Cowboys, who were valued at $9bn (£7.7bn) by Forbes magazine" It remains to be seen how this story will develop, but one thing is clear: we haven't heard the last of the takeover saga.