Man Utd takeover latest as fresh Jim Ratcliffe timeline claim emerges and Graeme Souness reveals meeting

Manchester United fans are still waiting patiently for confirmation of a partial takeover at their club more than a year after the Glazers announced they would welcome outside investment. Jim Ratcliffe will purchase 25% of the club, but the timeline remains unclear as the wait for approval goes on.

It has been a long and drawn out process, with Sheikh Jassim's attempts to buy the club in full ultimately failing. Ratcliffe managed to strike a deal worth £1.25billion for 25%, and he is now waiting for the deal to go through and get approved before he can officially get his mits on the Old Trafford steering wheel, at least in the sporting department. Here we round up the latest on the process.

Souness claim

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has revealed that he was consulted by Ratcliffe over how to buy a Premier League team. He told TalkSPORT: “We sit down and he says, ‘I’m thinking of buying Chelsea. Would that be a good buy?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think the timing might be right, I’m getting indications that maybe Roman Abramovich is getting fed up with it.’

“He said, ‘What would it cost?’ And I said, ‘I would imagine you’re looking at £2billion.’ And then he said, ‘What would it take to replicate what Real Madrid have done and dominate Europe? We live in the greatest city in the world, London. Why is there not a team in London that can do what Real Madrid have done?’

“I said, ‘It wouldn’t be impossible but you’d need a large slice of luck and a lot of money.’ He said, ‘How much money?' So I said, ‘over the next ten years maybe another four or five billion, the way transfers are going.’ His response was, ‘Would it be fun?’ I said, ‘Well I don’t know what your idea of fun is but spending five or six billion pounds on a football team knowing there’s going to be peaks and troughs along the way, only you can answer that’.”

Ratcliffe takeover timeline

Ratcliffe is looking at January 'at the earliest' to complete his takeover, according to journalist Ben Jacobs, who told GiveMeSport: "Well, I think Erik ten Hag was always under some pressure and even though he has found a few results in the Premier League, the resounding defeat to Bournemouth and then Champions League exit obviously hasn't helped. The Manchester United takeover or 25% acquisition from Sir Jim Ratcliffe first needs to be finalised. And then from there, Ratcliffe is hoping to have a strategic period of review before any significant decisions are made. But until he's in, and there's a completion process that needs to be done, so we are looking at January at the earliest, the Glazers are in control.

“So the Glazers, even knowing Ratcliffe is incoming with sporting control, will be communicating with Ratcliffe and INEOS, and can still take the final say. And at the moment, there's a busy festive period, and Jim Ratcliffe is not looking likely to be in from a control point of view on the sporting side.”