According to media reports, the owners have extended the deadline in the struggle for a billion-dollar sale of the English football record champions Manchester United.
Interested parties such as the British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, head of the petrochemical company Ineos, and the Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, chairman of one of the country’s largest banks, now have until Friday evening to submit their offers. This was reported by several British media on Thursday. Accordingly, both should offer up to five billion pounds (5.65 billion euros), a world record sum for a sports club.
The current owners, the US family Glazers, announced last year that they were considering selling Man United, currently third in the Premier League. They are said to be asking £6bn for the club, which they bought for £750m in 2005. The fans of the record champions have been protesting against the Glazers for years, accusing them of running the club down.
Ratcliffe, who has been a United fan since childhood, is one of the richest men in Britain. He had unsuccessfully tried to take over Chelsea with Ineos last year. According to the announcement, bank boss Al Thani, who was trained in England, wants to handle the purchase through his Nine Two Foundation. A lot of money is flowing into football from Qatar, which hosted the World Cup last year. This is most obvious at Paris Saint-Germain. The Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) fund joined the French club in 2011.
