According to reports, there has been an “approach” to a Manchester United legend, who is in “direct talks” over his involvement in a potential takeover.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority takeover of Man Utd was initially met with huge positivity, though he has become an incredibly unpopular figure.
The INEOS chief owns a stake in the region of 29% and has taken control of football operations at Old Trafford, while the Glazer family remain in the background.
Ratcliffe has become unpopular by sanctioning a major cost-cutting programme to balance the books at Man Utd, but has brutally made staff cuts, reduced payments to club legends and hiked ticket prices.
Therefore, a large portion of United’s fanbase got excited when Saudi Arabian boxing promoter Turki Al-Sheikh claimed that a new takeover is ‘advanced’.
There have since been conflicting reports on a potential deal, but journalist Ben Jacobs has moved to clear up a few key details.
Jacobs has confirmed that talks are not “advanced”, though a group from the UAE is interested, while a “few variables” set the full takeover price.
“So the latest is as follows: number one, the Glazers have not had an offer from anybody,” Jacobs said on The United Stand.
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“Could they be holding talks behind other people at the club’s back? Absolutely. Are they advanced? No. And then where does the money come from? Well, Turki Al-Sheikh confirms something that we broke on this show, that it’s not Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t want to disappoint the chat, but Sheikh Jassim is not coming back to the table. There is no possibility, I am told. And in addition to that, the number the Glazers want is in excess of 5 billion pounds. And if you go back through the SEC filing to look at the different bids from shape, none of the offers were anywhere close to that number.
“And what makes the number higher is if, whilst this drag on clause is valid, the Glazers do sell. So Jim Ratcliffe is guaranteed $33 a share, which takes the overall valuation of the club to something around 4.7 billion.
“So again, not far off that 5 billion pound number. And all of this means, if someone’s to buy the club now, they’re going to have to pay a premium, and then Sir Jim Ratcliffe would have to go buy a wanted 100% so there’s a few variables here.”
The “most interesting thing” revealed by Jacobs is that United legend Eric Cantona has held “direct talks” with the group and has been “approached” about “coming on board”.
“The last thing, and the most interesting thing that I can add, and I think this counts as a bit of a United Stand exclusive, is that within the UAE, one company in particular is involved in these talks,” Jacobs added.
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“It’s unclear whether they will front the consortium, but international holding company or IHC, which has been around for about three decades, have been part of talks to put together a perspective of a UAE-based Consortium.
“We don’t know whether anything is going to materialise. And as we said on talkSPORT a few weeks ago, some ex-Manchester United legends have also been sounded out not to invest, but just to be ambassadors.
“And quite interestingly, some, I think they’ll be excited to others, I think they will almost feel the optics of this are not quite right because of the kind of personality he is. One ex-Manchester United legend in particular has held direct talks about maybe coming on board.”
He added: “I would just stress one thing really, clearly, it is nowhere near as advanced as Turki implied, nor have the Glazers had any kind of direct contact.
“Yet there’s no guarantee this even develops into anything. But Eric Cantona is one of the names that has been approached.”
