'Finally!' - Romano reveals date for Ratcliffe's Man Utd takeover

Tom Weber

Updated: 4 Dec 2023 18:17 GMT
3 min read

Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Manchester United investment will be completed next week.

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A year after it started, the saga is finally coming to an end. It has been known for a while that INEOS billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has defeated Sheikh Jassim in the race for stewardship of the Red Devils. The fact that Ratcliffe was happy with a minority investment rather than a full buy-out tipped the scales in his favour as the Glazers, the current owners, are not yet ready to relinquish control of the lucrative brand.

The 71-year-old will acquire a 25 per cent stake and, crucially, full control of the club's sporting operations. This has already led to the departure of CEO Richard Arnold and more senior figures are expected to follow suit, chief among them sporting director John Murtough. They will be replaced with Ratcliffe's people.

However, it has been several weeks since the news of Ratcliffe's victory over Sheikh Jassim broke and little has as yet materialised, giving rise to fears that the impending investment will come too late to be felt in the January transfer window. The ratification of the deal was recently delayed again, but according to Fabrizio Romano, the saga will finally come to an end next week.

What did Romano say?

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the transfer expert revealed: "Finally, we are almost there with all the formal steps of the Man Utd sale. It's obviously a 25% minority stake, but with sporting control, so it's going to be an important, new presence [at] Man Utd, starting from the upcoming weeks."

"The hope of the lawyers and the people close to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS Group is to get it signed and official next week. So, before Christmas, everything should be official, completed and announced. That's the idea, that's the feeling."

"Let's see what happens in the next days, but the view is very clear: we are finally almost there. Obviously, Man Utd will have a new CEO - with Jean-Claude Blanc really close to getting the position - then they will have a new director of football, so there will be many changes at Man Utd."