Sheikh Jassim ‘made desperate last call’ to the Glazers before pulling out of race to buy Man United

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani reportedly made a desperate last call to the Glazers before pulling out of the race to buy Manchester United.

On Saturday evening, it was reported that Sheikh Jassim and his Qatari consortium have pulled out of the race to buy the Old Trafford club.

As a result, British billionaire and INEOS boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe is now set to agree a deal to buy a 25 per cent stake at United.

Despite withdrawing from the process, it has been claimed that Sheikh Jassim did everything he could to secure the keys to Old Trafford.

According to The Times, the Qatari held desperate last-ditch talks with the Glazers but his offer again fell short of their £6 billion valuation for 100 per cent ownership of United.

Having been told the Glazers wanted more money, Sheikh Jassim decided to leave the process, paving the way for Ratcliffe to secure a deal with the Americans.

Ratcliffe is set to fork out £1.5 billion for a quarter of the club, meaning the Glazers will continue to have a majority share until the British businessman manages to find the money to buy the rest of their stakes.

It is believed that Ratclifee’s INEOS team will take charge of the football operations of United subject to the deal being approved.

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The Glazers will then focus on the commercial side of the club.

In his recent book ‘Grit, Rigour & Humour: The Ineos Story’, Ratcliffe explained the difficulties in doing a deal with the Glazers due to the differing opinions.

He wrote: “They [Avram, Joel, Kevin, Bryan, Darcie and Edward, children of the late Malcolm Glazer] are all very nice, despite the press they get.

“But the club is owned equally by siblings and you can’t talk to that many siblings, really.”

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