The Glazer family’s desire to extract as much money as possible for a sale of Manchester United is causing delays to the takeover process, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
The Glazers announced they were ‘seeking strategic alternatives’ for United back in December, with proposals from Sir Jim Ratcliffe/INEOS and Sheikh Jassim’s Nine Two Foundation believed to be leading the race to take over United.
The proposals have differences, with Ratcliffe wanting a majority share of United and Sheikh Jassim wanting a full takeover.
But nearly seven months on from the board’s initial announcement, a preferred bidder is yet to be announced.
And Maguire, who says he was placed on standby by TV stations in case of a possible takeover announcement last Friday, has now given an indication as to the cause of the delay in the process.
Maguire gives Man Utd takeover update
Speaking to Stretford Paddock, Maguire explained that the Glazers are keen to gain more money from a sale.
He said: “It would appear that the Glazers have turned into a bunch of hustlers. They are trying to extract a little bit more money from someone.
“Joel and Avram [Glazer] still want to have some form of control as well, so they’re trying to come up with a series of schemes that would allow them to have continuing involvement. They feel Manchester United is vastly undervalued by the markets, and therefore they want a share of any gain of value in future years.
“Why they can’t get round the table and thrash out a deal, I think is beyond most observers.”
Maguire added that even if a takeover does happen soon, it could still impact the amount of money United can spend in the transfer market – despite their qualification for the Champions League.
“The transfer window is about to open,” he began. “Yes, there will be a budget because they qualified for the Champions League, so therefore money has gone into a pot for that.
“But if one of the prospective owners was hoping to spend a lot more money – and we’ve seen that happen at Newcastle, we saw that happen at City and at Chelsea and other clubs – if the deal drags on and on until we get to the wrong end of the window, then it becomes either more difficult or you get your trousers taken down in terms of the prices that selling clubs are going to be demanding.
“It becomes a seller’s market, and you end up paying premium prices. Manchester United have had that done to them too often. We saw that last summer, when a poor start to the season resulted in panic buys and paying over the odds.”
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