Man Utd takeover: Leading bidder pulls out amid Glazer ‘disrespect’ claims

Robin Bairner

• 13 Apr 2023 08:38 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United’s takeover has been thrown into greater doubt after Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus pulled out of the running to buy the club, claiming “disrespect” from the Glazer brothers.

Zilliacus had headed up an ambitious bid that was part-funded by fan money but would have seen him invest as much as £3 billion of his own fortune in the club.

He had been third favourite to buy the club behind Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Al Thani yet those bids have also failed to reach the Glazers’ £6bn valuation of the club.

As a result, a third round of bidding is set to be opened by Man Utd’s American owners, who still hope to raise more money from the sale of the club.

MORE: Three huge transfers threatened as Man Utd takeover stalls again

'Takeover turning into a farce' - Zilliacus

Zilliacus, though, has been unimpressed with the way the bidding process has been handled and took to Twitter to criticised the handling of the situation.

“I have declined participation in a third bidding round for United,” he said.

“The bidding is turning into a farce, with the Glazers giving no respect to the club.

“The delays will make it very difficult for any new owner to build a winning team for next season.

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“Jim Ratcliffe, Sheikh Jassim and myself all were ready to negotiate a deal to buy United.

“Instead the Glazers chose to start a new round.

“I will not participate in a farce set up to maximize the profit for the sellers at the expense of Manchester United.”

Each delay threatens the competitiveness of Man Utd next season purely because it leaves the club increasingly fighting an uphill battle in the transfer market, particularly for landing marquee signings.

While their rivals are able to plot their transfer moves early, Man Utd have been left in the dark over leading targets such as Victor Osimhen and Jude Bellingham as their budget is unknown.