Man Utd takeover latest amid Shekh Jassim ‘authoritarian’ warning and fresh Jim Ratcliffe concerns

Speculation continues to surround Manchester United amid a possible takeover.

The Red Devils will be fully concentrated on sealing a top four spt as they go into their last three games - one of which takes place on Saturday - but off the pitch, the club faces an uncertain future amid continued talk of a takeover. Bids have been submitted for the club, but the Glazers are not yet decided over whether they want a full sale or partial investment.

As the situation rumbles on, we have rounded up all the latest news on the topic.

Ratcliffe ‘questions’

It’s well known that Jim Ratcliffe is one of the bidders for United, and a fresh report offers the latest on the Brit’s bid.

“Ratcliffe’s happy with what he’s put down on the table at this point,”Ben Jacobs told GiveMeSport.

“Which does effectively mean that he has to wait and see whether or not his flexible offer for control of the football club is accepted. It hasn’t been yet, but there’s been back and forth with Raine Group and there have been questions asked about that offer.

“There is still that cautious optimism within the Ratcliffe camp because they feel like they are not only abiding by the process, but presenting the Glazers with options that may work for them as a six but may also work for them as a four and a two, with the latter allowing Joel and Avram to potentially stay.”

Jassim concerns

Activist Dr Nasser Mohamed has warned United against Sheikh Jassim’s bid.

“People need to be worried,” he told PA. “Surrendering control to an authoritarian regime, giving them more and more with the money that they have… (Qatar) is doing this everywhere.

“They’re doing it through real estate. They’re doing it in fashion, they’re doing it in sports, they’re doing it in tech, and they’re gaining control. And you really need to be worried.”

Ratcliffe warning

It’s not just Jassim that has attracted criticism, with former France star Emmanuel Petit sounding alarms over Ratcliffe’s management of OGC Nice.

“Since INEOS arrived in Nice, I don’t know who makes the decisions. I don’t know where they want to go,” he told Foot01. “I don’t know what they want to do with this club, especially since with Manchester United behind us we don’t know if they’re going to pull out overnight.

“That’s what puzzles me, actually. A group like INEOS, which manages 17,000 people around the world and has a turnover of 80bn, is not even capable of managing a club like Nice at the moment and having a clear and defined strategy. When you take the best sporting director, Ghisolfi at Lens, who made miracles on the transfer market with three francs and six pennies. You see today that he is in total disagreement with what we are trying to impose on him concerning the extension of certain players like Ramsey.

“Who is making the decisions? Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr. Blanc, Mr. Rivère, whose silence has been deafening for the past few weeks regarding the affairs. He told us in February: ‘You’ll see, we’ll give you the name of the future coach in February.’ It’s the end of May and we still don’t know what’s going to happen at Nice with the market coming up quickly. The direction that INEOS and OGC Nice want to take, I have no idea!”