British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe is interested in buying Manchester United if the club is available.
A spokesperson for Ratcliffe told The Times: “If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer.
“If something like this was possible, we would be interested in talking with a view to long-term ownership.”
Ratcliffe is the CEO of Ineos Group. The 69-year-old owns cycling team Ineos Grenadiers and Ligue 1 club OGC Nice. He also owns Swiss Super League club, FC Lausanne-Sport.
Born in Greater Manchester, Ratcliffe grew up as a Man Utd fan despite being a season ticket holder at Chelsea.
He is positioning himself ahead of the queue if the Glazers decide they want to sell the club.
United’s campaign has only started, but there is so much unrest at the club.
After two games, the club sits at the bottom of the Premier League table. They have suffered shocking losses to Brighton & Hove Albion FC and Brentford.
Star man Cristiano Ronaldo has been publicly agitating for a move away from the club.
United are also struggling to attract top-level footballers without the lure of Champions League football.
They have struggled to bring transfer targets such as Frenkie de Jong, Marko Arnautovic, Antony and Benjamin Sesko.
The club is going through an upheaval, with fans demanding that the Glazer family leave.
Malcolm Glazer bought Man Utd in 2005 via a financial model that has left the club in debt years later. The fans never warmed to the Glazers.
There is so much chaos around the club that the Glazers might consider a sale.
“This is not about the money that has been spent or not spent,” Ratcliffe’s spokesman added.
“Jim is looking at what can be done now and, knowing how important the club is to the city, it feels like the time is right for a reset.”
Ratcliffe dropped a last-minute £4.25 billion bid to buy Chelsea this summer. However, his offer was rejected in favour of Todd Boehly’s consortium.
He has now shifted his attention to Man Utd, but things may not be so easy for him.
The Glazer family has not decided to sell the club. They are only looking for an investor to buy a minority stake in the club and nothing more.
