Sheikh Jassim unlikely to return as Glazers weigh partial Manchester United sale

Members of the Glazer family are privately weighing whether to sell their individual stakes in Manchester United, according to Bloomberg, reigniting questions about the club’s long-term ownership structure more than two years after Sir Jim Ratcliffe acquired a minority shareholding and took control of football operations.

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who fronted a Qatari consortium that submitted multiple bids for the club in 2023 — including one reportedly worth approximately £4.5bn — is considered unlikely to re-enter the process. Sources suggest a minority stake would hold little appeal for him, and a working relationship with Ratcliffe, his former rival in the takeover race, would be difficult to envisage even if the Qatari group sought a controlling position.

The Glazers had previously indicated they would only consider offers exceeding £5bn, a threshold Sheikh Jassim’s consortium ultimately declined to meet. A source close to the Qatari group told the Daily Mail in 2024 that there was some regret over the outcome. “In an ideal world, then maybe we paid a little more to get it done,” the source said. “But we had already done that on a number of occasions. We felt like we were being used and the goalposts continually changed. We felt like we had already gone above and beyond.”

According to the Daily Mail, Sheikh Jassim’s plans for the club had been wide-ranging, including clearing United’s debt, funding a new stadium, freezing ticket prices, and increasing investment in the women’s team — a markedly different vision from the cost-cutting programme subsequently introduced by Ratcliffe’s INEOS group.

Ratcliffe himself had previously cast doubt on the Qatari bid’s credibility, saying of Sheikh Jassim: “Nobody’s ever seen him, actually. The Glazers never met him. I’m not sure he exists.”

Bloomberg’s report noted that the Glazer family discussions remain at a preliminary stage, centred on individual members potentially offloading their own holdings rather than a coordinated full sale.

The timing comes as pressure on Ratcliffe has eased following a difficult period at Old Trafford. After Ruben Amorim was dismissed in January at a cost of nearly £17m in compensation, Michael Carrick oversaw a recovery that delivered a third-place Premier League finish and a return to Champions League football. United have also moved quickly in the transfer market since the season ended, adding players including Senne Lammens, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Sesko.