Manchester United news – latest: Qatari bid confirmed before deadline for offers

It’s the final day for serious bidders to step forward in the race to buy Manchester United.

After months of speculation and soaring share prices, initial offers need to be presented on Friday to merchant bank Raine Group, which is handling the sale of one of the most famous soccer teams in the world.

By the end of the day, the American-owning Glazer family will have an idea of how much they can expect to make on the club they bought for about $1.4 billion in 2005.

The price is now estimated to reach as high as $6 billion, with reported interest from Saudi Arabia seeing its value rise sharply as the deadline for bids approaches.

While Friday is described as a soft deadline, Raine and the Glazers will have a clearer picture of potential buyers before moving on to the next stage of the process.

USA

Potential buyers from America are also expected ahead of Friday’s deadline. Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who attempted to buy Chelsea, are thought to be interested while Joel and Avram Glazer may well make a bid to buy out the club from their siblings.

Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, has also joked on social media about making a bid for the club and is said to be still interested.

Saudi Arabia

There is also the possibility of interest in United from Saudi Arabia.

Last November, the country’s sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal told the BBC that the government would support any Saudi private sector bids for United or Liverpool.

The country’s sovereign wealth fund already owns a controlling stake in Newcastle with a bid therefore likely to come from a different Saudi group.

Qatar

Following on from hosting the World Cup, the state is keen to own a Premier League club and a bid of some form is expected.

Sky Sports News have reported that investors linked to the Qatari royal family will bid to buy the Manchester club.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund with assets estimated at more than £370bn, has also been linked with a full buyout in other reports.

Qatar Sports Investment - a sub-section of QIA - already runs Paris Saint-Germain with a bid from the nation-state, therefore, needing to prove that the club will be run by different people than those currently in charge of PSG.

A bid from Ratcliffe - who owns French-top flight club Nice, will also raise similar questions due to his involvement in the French club.

UEFA regulations prohibit individuals or legal entities having control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.

Reports of Qatari interest have been criticised by Amnesty International.

Peter Frankental, the human rights group’s UK economic affairs director, told PA last week any Qatari buyout would be a “continuation of (Qatar’s) state-backed sportswashing project”.

Amnesty and other groups have criticised Qatar over its treatment of migrant workers and its criminalisation of same-sex relationships.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe

At this stage, only Ratcliffe, one of the UK’s richest men, has publicly expressed an interest.

The Oldham-born billionaire owns INEOS Group, a British chemical company, and has hired American banks JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to help him during the process.

His company told the PA news agency last month: “We have formally put ourselves into the process.”

FC Barcelona and Manchester United fought out an engrossing draw in the first leg of their Europa League play-off on Thursday night, the Catalan outfit both taking the lead and hitting back late on to secure a 2-2 draw.

It leaves the tie finely poised ahead of the return fixture at Old Trafford, but Barcelona have discovered the extent of an injury to key midfielder Pedri and the Spanish international will be missing for that second leg.

One of head coach Xavi’s go-to starters, Pedri has been a fixture in both the Barcelona and Spain football lineup since his breakthrough in 2020/21. However, he went off injured shortly before half time against the Red Devils and tests have revealed a muscle issue which will sideline him for up to five weeks, report Sport.

A hamstring strain will see him miss up to seven matches, with the Copa del Rey semi-final against Real Madrid and a LaLiga fixture against Valencia also on Barca’s upcoming run. With the second leg against Man United only a week away, Xavi will need to plan a midfield without him - with Gavi the most likely candidate to move from the attacking line back into midfield.

David Harrison is joining Manchester United from Everton as director of football operations. The Red Devils have made a number of appointments at Carrington recently, including Andy O’Boyle as deputy football director.

O’Boyle’s role sees him focused on football strategy and performance, with Harrison focusing on operational aspects at the club. Both report to football director John Murtough.

Harrison started his career in the Old Trafford ticket office before moving to Everton in 1995, going onto become club secretary in 2002 and director of football operations in 2018.

Following Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Barcelona last night, manager Erik Ten Hag told BT Sport: “I think it was a great game.

“Two attacking teams, I think it was a Champions League game, even more than that, so I really enjoyed the game. In the end (it finished) 2-2, and we have to finish it in Old Trafford.

“Of course I will credit [Marcus] Rashford definitely because he is in great form, but the whole team did well. I think it was a really good team performance.

“We have a lot of character and determination in this team. The belief we had to score the first goal and the meaning of the first goal is so important and that’s what we didn’t do.”

A representative for supporters of Manchester United has called for fans to get a stake at Old Trafford if the club’s owners, the Glazer family, sell the club.

The American owners bought United in a controversial £790million leveraged buy-out in 2005.

In a statement, the club said that its owners were examining “strategic alternatives to enhance the club’s growth.”

Duncan Drasdo, chief executive of the Manchester United Supporters Trust, has called for a Chelsea-style takeover to become a model if the sale is to go ahead.

After Boehly and his group paid £2.5bn for Chelsea last year, there has been a rapid recalculation of what the Premier League’s top clubs might be worth.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has said that, based on a comparison with Chelsea’s revenues, profitability and assets, United would be worth around £4-4.5bn, with a reasonable expectation that a possible bidding war would push the price up to £5bn.