REVEALED: Man United bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘tried to buy half of Barcelona’ before taking on Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim in bid for control at Old Trafford
- Ineos founder and billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe hopes to buy Manchester United
- He has previously fallen short in his attempts to purchase other football clubs
- A new book reveals he looked to buy half of Barcelona before the deal collapsed
Manchester United bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe looked to buy half of Barcelona and pledged to pump billions into the club before turning his attention to seizing control at Old Trafford, a new book about the businessman has revealed.
Ratcliffe remains in the process to purchase United from the much-maligned Glazer family but faces fierce competition from Qatari Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani. Both consortiums have made offers north of £5billion, short of the £6bn price tag.
Despite a deadline for final bids passing and the new season looming, no preferred bidder has been chosen, with the Glazers taking their time to consider the bids.
It initially appeared that Ratcliffe was in pole position to seal a takeover but recent suggestions appear to have placed Sheikh Jassim in the driving seat instead. There have been no confirmation or definitive updates from the club, however.
Ratcliffe, the founder of Ineos and the owner of Ligue 1 side Nice, is determined to expand his reach in sport and previously failed in his past attempts to buy both Chelsea and United. It has now emerged that he also fell short at Barcelona, too.
Manchester United bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tried to buy half of Barcelona, it has been revealed
Ratcliffe held talks with president Joan Laporta before the deal collapsed due to several issues
Ratcliffe remains in the race to purchase United alongside Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani
According to the book, via The Times, Ratcliffe held an ‘interesting conversation’ with the club and enjoyed a good relationship with president Joan Laporta.
After Laporta returned to the helm of the financially-stricken powerhouse, Ratcliffe looked to engineer a purchase before the lucrative move became ‘too political’.
Barcelona hold an obligation to serve the best interests of their membership, with 144,000 socios holding the majority of the power at the club. They are also responsible for selecting the president who, in turn, effectively acts as a steward.
Ratcliffe, it is reported, was horrified after hearing Laporta and the hierarchy planned to sell off a proportion of the club’s television rights to ease their money issues.
He said: ‘We told them, “Don’t do it – we’ll put in two or three billion, renovate the Nou Camp and have 50 per cent ownership – and sign a deed to say we’d never sell.”
‘Our interest was in football alone, not making money. I think it would have worked.’
The Glazers are taking their time over the bids (pictured: Avram, left, and Joel Glazer, right)
Barcelona looked to ease their financial problems by selling off part of their television rights
Ratcliffe had advised the LaLiga champions against the move and labelled it a ‘disaster’
Ratcliffe then added: ‘We talked about it but, in the end, they didn’t think they could go to the fans with it. The road they are going down is a disaster.
‘We tried to point that out and they said, “We know, but…” They are all short-termers [Barcelona regimes] because the president comes in, does it for five years and hands the mess over to someone else.
‘They have now sold a chunk of the TV rights, and merchandising rights, for the next 25 years. They’ve sold them to American hedge funds. So they’ve got this big slug of cash, which they can now… waste.
‘But if you looked at top football clubs – Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Manchester City and so on – they had roughly similar budgets: say £800 million for the sake of argument.
‘Because of what Barcelona had done, theirs would be more like £500 million.
‘That’s why we told them not to do it. But they said no, and now we’ve got that out of our system, we can concentrate on Nice.’
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