- 9 hours ago
How much are the Glazers selling Man Utd for?
The Glazer family have formally put Manchester United on the market after nearly 18 years of ownership. How much are they looking for?
The Glazer ownership has been met with resistance from sections of the United support from the start, with £500 million (€5.79m) of the £800m (€926.7m) needed to buy the club in 2005 borrowed money.
Whilst the Red Devils have continued to spend significantly in the transfer market - Ajax winger Antony cost €100m as recently as this summer - the club are without a Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement as manager in 2013.
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Cristiano Ronaldo blasted the club in his recent interview with Piers Morgan, taking aim at the owners and the downtrodden state of the club's facilities and infrastructure. Days after releasing the Portuguese, the Glazers have apparently had enough.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who currently owns French outfit Nice, and David Beckham, a United legend who now runs Inter Miami in the MLS, are among those to have been linked with bids for United, and the asking price is eyewatering.
The Glazers at Man Utd: pic.twitter.com/T1jjDbeV1x
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The owner of petrochemicals giant Ineos [Ratcliffe] will now table a fresh approach," report the Telegraph. "Although he is wary about overpaying as insiders suggest the Glazers are looking for a price in excess of £5 billion (€5.8bn)."
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Forbes' most recent valuation of the record English champions as $4.6bn (€4.41bn), but United remain one of the most marketable brands in the world despite their dearth of league titles in recent seasons, and the Glazers are confident of getting more.
The €5.8bn figure is unlikely to put Ratcliffe, who is worth around €27bn, making him one of the UK's richest men. Ratcliffe is also a United fan and tried to bid for them in the summer.
"I'm a lifelong Manchester United fan," he told the Financial Times at the time. "I was there in that most remarkable match in 1999 in Barcelona. That is deeply etched in my mind."