Man Utd could be set for huge takeover boost as Uefa consider huge U-turn over ownership rules
MANCHESTER UNITED have been given a huge takeover boost.
That’s as Uefa considers a huge U-turn over its ownership rules for the Champions League.
The Red Devils are on the market for £6billion as the Glazers look to sell up.
Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe have both launched initial bids of around £4.5bn.
And the Times claims Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is now considering an overhaul of rules which currently ban clubs with the same owner from playing in the same competition.
Ratcliffe already owns French side OGC Nice, who hold dreams of playing in the Champions League after major investment in their squad last summer.
As for Sheikh Jassim, there are concerns over his links to Qatar’s ruling elite — who own a controlling share in European regulars Paris Saint-Germain.
But a change in Uefa’s rules would quash doubts for both parties in the running for United.
Ceferin’s softened stance comes after Sheikh Jassim enlisted US financial giant Bank of America to help decide his final valuation for buying United.
The battle for control of the Red Devils is taking a significant step forward with both main bidders at Old Trafford this week.
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL
But Sheikh Jassim’s decision to include Bank of America representatives in his party when it meets the Glazer family’s chosen selling agent, the Raine Group, appears a significant step.
That meeting is expected to take place over the next 48 hours, before Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos deploys agents to Old Trafford for their first proper scrutiny of the club’s financial books on Friday.
The meetings were set in motion when the two bidders were approved by Raine ten days ago as having passed the initial threshold.
But SunSport revealed last week that one option being considered by the Glazers was taking the club OFF the market and instead using outside capital to create a new company to hive off the club’s merchandising and digital commercial operation into a separate concern.
This would allow them to rake in money from potential opportunities from digital sales, video gaming and merchandise licensing that would be separate from what happens to the pitch.