Manchester United News: Sheikh Jassim withdraws from takeover race

Sheikh Jassim has decided to withdraw from the Manchester United takeover race. He had been racing INEOS billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe for a buy-out but has decided not pull out of the race.

The Qatari had bid 5bn for the club but due to lack of response from the Glazers, he has decided to break down further talks. The Glazer family bought United for 790m in 2005 and in November 2022 they considered selling the club.

British Businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe was the other bidder who was rivalling Sheikh Jassim for the takeover, he's of the INEOS group. Ratcliffe is now hoping to conclude a deal of 25% of the club for a minority stake.

Earlier this month Ratcliffe was reported to have considered buying a minority stake in the club, in order to break the impasse over the ownership situation. When the Glazers announced last year that they were willing to sell, bids of 5bn arrived from INEOS and Sheikh Jassim.

The United supporters wants the Glazers to sell and there were literal protest about it, after Manchester United's home matches At Old Trafford.

Manchester United's bad start to the season didn't help the Glazers at all. The club is 10th in the Premier League having lost four of their opening eight matches, and were beaten in their first two Champions League games against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray.

Numerous conflicting rumours have emerged over the past couple of months which stated that the whole process had been broken down, but that was definitely not the case.

But for now, the Glazers remain and that is something which can be expected to be greeted with anger by the majority of the United fanbase which include former Manchester United player Gary Neville who thinks that if United don't solve the problem at the very top, they would suffer even more on the football field, just like they're doing now.

Earlier this week, when asked if the Glazer family were aware of the majority view of them within the United fanbase, chief executive Richard Arnold told their Fans Forum the club was "transparent in its feedback to the owners".