Manchester United takeover:Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirms interest in buying Manchester United

Sir Jim Ratcliffe officially enters bidding to buy Premier League club

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has registered his interest in buying Manchester United. The 70-year-old, one of Britain’s richest men, has officially entered the bidding process to buy the club from the Glazers.
Ineos chairman and CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of the richest men in Britain, has officially expressed an interest in buying Manchester United.

Ratcliffe was one of the parties interested in buying Chelsea from Roman Abramovich last year, but he fell short with a £4.25bn bid to take over at Stamford Bridge, where he is a season ticket holder.
Ratcliffe also owns Ligue 1 side Nice and Swiss Super League outfit FC Lausanne-Sport, as well as acquired a stake in Mercedes’ Formula One team in 2020.

Sir Jim had initially appeared to throw cold water on a sell-up by the Glazers, telling a conference hosted by the Financial Times last year: “I’ve met Joel and Avram and they are the nicest people, I have to say, they are proper gentlemen.”They don’t want to sell it. It’s owned by the six children of the father and they don’t want to sell it.”

A spokesperson for his company said he was “focusing efforts” on OGC Nice amid the news that FSG was looking at potentially offloading Liverpool.
However, it appears he has now performed a U-turn regarding a possible purchase of United after it was confirmed on Tuesday that he has officially entered the running to buy the club.
“We have formally put ourselves into the process,” a spokesman for the petrochemicals billionaire told The Times.

Ratcliffe, a boyhood United fan, is the first prospective buyer to publicly confirm his interest in buying the club, and all parties will need to register their interest with the merchant bank running the sale for the Glazer family.
This season, the Red Devils find themselves third in the Premier League table and could jump to second with a victory over Crystal Palace on Wednesday – cutting the gap to leaders Arsenal to six points in the process.