Man Utd takeover: Ten Hag future clarified as Sheikh Jassim reaches major decision after Sir Jim Ratcliffe plans change

Sheikh Jassim remains 100% committed to buying Manchester United from the Glazer family despite a change of approach from his main rival Sir Jim Ratcliffe threatening to derail his plan – while news on the future of Erik ten Hag has also come to light.

The Red Devils were put up for sale in November by the unpopular Glazer family, who have owned the club since 2005. Back then, Malcolm Glazer bought Manchester United for a lowly £790m; now the club is valued by his sons Joel and Avram at almost eight-times that amount at nearer £6bn.

However, despite the saga now entering an 11th month, the club appears no nearer finding a new custodian despite two main suitors for the club emerging.

Indeed, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s initial bid was reportedly worth £5.5bn which would see the Glazers retain a small stake in ownership. His main rival, the Qatari-led consortium fronted by Sheikh Jassim, plan to match that offer, but prefer an outright buy-out, together with a pledge to wipe out the club’s reported £500m debts and a promise to seriously invest in the team.

Despite both proposals being put before the Raine Group, who are handling the approaches, neither bid has yet been deemed worthy.

And amid claims the Glazers were ultimately looking for a renewed figure, potentially as much as £10bn, reports on Monday night surfaced claiming Ratcliffe now plans to revise his bid for United to only investing in a minority stake, leaving the Glazers in majority control.

That reflects a similar arrangement recently agreed over at Liverpool with a new partner Dynasty Equity agreeing to buy a minority stake of FSG’s shareholdings.

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Sheikh Jassim still wants 100% Man Utd takeover amid Ten Hag stance

However, multiple sources claim Sheikh Jassim does not plan to follow suit and still remains 100% committed to his plans of finalising a full buy-out of United.

And regardless of what Ratcliffe plans to do, the Qataris still believe and hope their offer will prove enough to tempt the Glazers into the sale.

In the meantime, speculation continues to circulate over the future of manager Erik ten Hag, following the club’s worst to start to a season in 34 years.

Having lost five of their nine games so far, the pressure is already mounting on Ten Hag ahead of two must-not-lose matches against Galatasaray and Brentford.

However, despite claims he could find himself under rising pressure if he does not collect two wins this week, United’s current regime are reportedly still behind the Dutchman.

Furthermore, Sheikh Jassim would also have no immediate plans to dispose of his services were his takeover to go through.

Gary Neville support for Erik ten Hag amid sack talk

In addition, Gary Neville is also backing Ten Hag to turn United around, insisting both the Dutchman – and Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea – are too good a manager to continue to struggle.

He tweeted: “Chelsea and United are the way they are currently due to cultural issues and chaos. ETH and MP are good managers working in very difficult and challenging environments. Look up top!”

Explaining more about Ten Hag to Marca, Neville continued: “I think the first season of Ten Hag was very good. I think winning a title and getting into the Champions League can be considered a brilliant first season. Especially taking into account the chaotic period of transfers they experienced.

“They tried to sign [Frenkie] De Jong and kept Casemiro, Anthony and Lisandro Martínez. I think the fans are with him. I like the direct approach of him and the direct nature of him. I think that, in addition, he plays quality football: he knows how to set up the team.”

Neville also insists the much-hated Glazers need to sell up if the club are to turn a corner.

“It is a game for them. They think it is a toy. Of course they will sell, they are desperate for money. They can’t compete on FFP anymore. Manchester United are talking like a mid-table club when it comes to the transfer market,” he told Sky Sports after the defeat to Arsenal.

“They turn over £500m, they are one of the highest revenue generating clubs in the world. Chelsea, Arsenal and all these clubs can sign players and United are scrambling around with FFP.

“It will seem I always mention the owners and I will because they are still messing around with this football club. It is difficult to be successful if you have so much uncertainty at the top of the club. It is not a successful football club because of what the owners have done.”

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