Mbappe to Man Utd had Jassim beat Ratcliffe? Romano reveals the truth

Tom Weber

• Updated: 23 Feb 2024 15:00 GMT
• 3 min read

Fabrizio Romano has revealed whether or not Sheikh Jassim would have tried to sign Kylian Mbappe had he won the Manchester United takeover battle.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is now in charge of Man Utd's sporting operations. The INEOS chief has acquired a 25 per cent stake in the club and will now be tasked with lifting the Red Devils back onto their perch.

Had things panned out differently, Qatari billionaire Sheikh Jassim could now be in charge of the Manchester giants. For much of 2023, Jassim and Ratcliffe had been locked in a fierce battle for ownership of Man Utd, with both initially wanting a 100 per cent acquisition of the club.

Ratcliffe eventually made a different offer, one that saw the Glazers, the majority owners, remain on board, and this is what ultimately tipped the scales in his favour. Prior to Ratcliffe's victory, speculation about what Man Utd could have done with Jassim's seemingly limitless funds abounded, with some reports going so far as to claim that the Qatari would have attempted to sign Kylian Mbappe for the Red Devils.

Mbappe to Man Utd?

The French megastar is now on his way to Real Madrid after once again running his contract at PSG down. Despite it seeming inevitable for some time that he is Spain-bound, there have nevertheless been rumours about a potential English hijack of the deal, with Arsenal and Liverpool linked.

But what about Man Utd? Could they really have signed Mbappe if Sheikh Jassim had won? According to Fabrizio Romano, there was never any concrete interest from anyone connected with the Red Devils in signing the 25-year-old.

"Many English clubs have been rumoured with Kylian Mbappe in the recent years," Romano said on his YouTube channel, "also Man Utd, but Man Utd were never really working on that one."

"Also, last summer when those stories linked with [the] Qatari possibility [appeared] - no, from the Qataris, from Sir Jim Ratcliffe, from the Glazers no one really tried to approach Kylian Mbappe for Man Utd."