It feels like Manchester United are in a downward spiral that has no end in sight. They've been linked to just about every player on the market as Erik ten Hag tries to turn things around as his star player Cristiano Ronaldo pushes for an exit. The club has lost back-to-back games by a combined 6-1 score with a home date against Liverpool up next.
There's been so much drama surrounding the club that fans are blaming the Glazer family for the early-season struggles and Elon Musk, who's considered the richest person on the planet, jokingly tweeted Tuesday night about his desire to purchase the club. Musk may not coming to the rescue at Old Trafford, but the Glazer family is actually considering selling a minority stake of the club, according to Bloomberg on Wednesday, and there's a familiar face interested, according to The Times.
Ineos billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who struck out at the chance of acquiring Chelsea from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, wants to talk with United's owners about a minority stake with the view of taking full control down the road. Ratcliffe, 69, is a chemical engineer and businessman. He's the chairman and CEO of Ineos chemicals group, which he founded in 1998. Ineos own French Ligue side Nice and Swiss side FC Lausanne-Sport.
A spokesman for him confirmed to The Times that he would welcome a chance to talk to the club's owners, the Glazer family.
"If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer," the spokesman said to The Times.
The Glazers first got involved with United in 2003 and assumed a controlling stake of just under 57 percent in 2005. The team has won a Champions League title and numerous Premier League trophies under their ownership, but things have not gone as planned for the last several years. It's been 10 years since they've won the league, and they've only won one FA Cup since 2004-05. They've started off this season it a shocking home loss to Brighton, only to look worse a week later in a 4-0 loss at Brentford.
It remains to be seen if the Glazers would consider such a move, but Ratcliffe's interest will certainly lead to others also expressing their desire.
Fellow Premier League club Chelsea were sold to American businessman Todd Boehly in May for $5.2 billion, a figure that any United sale would be expected to surpass.
