Man Utd takeover: Rio Ferdinand explains 'big issue' impacting sale

Stuart Telford

• 4 Jul 2023 14:59 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United remain in the Glazer family's control despite them inviting bids for the club in November, and now Rio Ferdinand had revealed the source of the hold up.

Red Devils fans are growing increasingly frustrated at the Glazers with the protracted sale of the club now running into the summer transfer window, negatively impacting upon their ability to acquire new players.

Qatari Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, once the UK's richest man, have each lodged bids of at least £5 billion for England's record champions, but the Glazers are yet to agree to any sale.

READ: Why Man Utd have FFP problems

United have already seen summer targets like Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber near moves to Arsenal, while Harry Kane - their desired solution at No.9 - has now intimated his desire to move to Bayern Munich from Tottenham Hotspur, according to Sky Germany's Florian Plettenberg.

Whilst a difficult situation for supporters, club legend Ferdinand says he understands what is going on.

What did Ferdinand say?

"I had some news from a very good source, my great source at Manchester United," he told his FIVE YouTube channel. "Things were running quite smoothly and it was going down the right path but then obviously [it stalled].

READ: Man Utd takeover: Jassim confident of beating Ratcliffe… but not the Glazers

"… you're dealing with siblings in the Glazer family who are there to make a collective decision. I don't think one person can just make a decision on their own, so therefore that makes it very difficult to say 'yes' immediately just like that. It's a process that they have to go through."

United were initially bought by the Glazer family patriarch Malcom in 2005, who borrowed £500 million in order to acquire the club for a valuation of £800m.

A sale in excess of £5bn would therefore represent a significant profit, but would now be split between Malcom's six children - Avram, Bryan, Darcie, Edward, Joel and Kevin - of whom Joel and Avram sit on the board as co-chairmen.