Man Utd takeover: Lewis Hamilton update in Sir Jim Ratcliffe bid as £5billion price suggested

Lewis Hamilton is not involved in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s bid for Manchester United, according to reports.

The UK’s richest man declared his interest in buying the 20-time English champions on Tuesday, with a spokesperson for Ratcliffe telling The Times: “We have formally put ourselves into the process.”

The boyhood United supporter, who tried to buy Chelsea last season, is the first to publicly express his interest in purchasing the Red Devils, although more parties are expected to follow suit over the coming weeks and months.

It had been previously reported that Hamilton and Ratcliffe may form part of a consortium to take over United given their links through Formula One, but a report in the Independent claims that Hamilton is ‘not currently active’ in Ratcliffe’s bid.

While the latter has declared his intentions to make an offer for United, US investors Sixth Street have openly shared they are not interested in buying the club. In a statement on Wednesday, the company said: “As part of our sports investing franchise, Sixth Street maintains active dialogues with top organizations across multiple sports and around the world. But at this time, Sixth Street is not looking to buy Manchester United and is not in any active discussions to do so.”

It had been reported earlier that day by the Telegraph that Sixth Street had indicated they were ready to invest in United.

Elsewhere, Simon Jordan, who previously owned Premier League side Crystal Palace, has said the Glazers will not receive upwards of £6 billion for the club, as they reportedly want.

Jordan told talkSPORT: “We can’t all expect everyone to be a fairy godmother trying to influence people’s thinking by being a nation state buying a football club for very different reasons than somebody that’s a commercial man that’s indexed to it for other reasons.

“So there has to be some form of commercial thinking behind it so with that in mind, do Manchester United get sold at £6/7billion? I’d be gobsmacked if they did. If it gets into the territory of between £4-6billion, by that I mean probably £5billion, then the conversation happens.”