- Britain's richest man keen on Red Devils
- Has an opening offer on the table
- Next deadline for bids passes on Wednesday
WHAT HAPPENED? The billionaire INEOS chief executive, who is Britain's richest man, met with officials at Old Trafford on Friday while also being shown around the Red Devils’ Carrington training complex. Rival bidder, Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, is also still in the running and saw his representatives hold positive discussions in Manchester last week. The next round of offers for the Premier League giants need to be tabled by Wednesday evening, with Ratcliffe further outlining his plans in what is becoming a drawn-out process.
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WHAT THEY SAID: Ratcliffe has told the Wall Street Journal: “How do you decide the price of a painting? How do you decide the price of a house? It's not related to how much it cost to build or how much it cost to paint. What you don't want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: While eager to point out that he will not pay over the odds for United, Ratcliffe has reiterated his desire to make the Red Devils a “community asset” and wants to assure supporters that his ongoing interest in the team he supported growing up is based “purely in winning things”.
IN TWO PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT? The second round of bids for United are expected to get closer to the Glazer family’s £6 billion ($7bn) valuation, with it possible that as many as eight parties could formalise their interest prior to another midweek deadline passing.