Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani has reportedly been congratulated on his alleged takeover of Manchester United, even though no official announcement has been made. The Premier League club is currently up for sale, and there have been reports from Qatar suggesting that Sheikh Jassim has beaten Sir Jim Ratcliffe and received approval from the Glazer family, the current owners. However, Manchester United has yet to confirm the identity of their new principal owner, as the Glazer family is expected to choose a preferred bidder this week.
Sheikh Jassim, a wealthy Qatari banker, has been competing with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the CEO of INEOS, for approximately eight months in the battle to acquire Manchester United. Sheikh Jassim has submitted five bids, and according to reports from Qatar on Monday, his final offer seems to have convinced the Glazers, who have been holding out for £6 billion since November when they put the club on the market. While there has been no official confirmation, some fans have already started to express their excitement.
Adding to the speculation, Zaidm Al-Hamdan, a Qatari businessman and Chairman of the Armasite Group, took to Twitter to congratulate Sheikh Jassim on his supposed acquisition of Manchester United. His tweet received significant attention, with 25,000 likes within 12 hours of posting. Additionally, the Qatari news organization Al-Watan, which is 50% owned by Sheikh Jassim’s father, claimed that the bid had been successful, causing United’s share price to rise.
However, conflicting reports emerged on Tuesday morning. The Press Association explained that Sheikh Jassim’s camp considers the claim of his success to being pure speculation and that both Sheikh Jassim’s camp and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS are currently in a holding pattern, awaiting further developments. As of now, Manchester United has not made an official announcement regarding the outcome of the sale.
