Saudi sports chief hints at fresh investment talks for Man Utd
Saudi sports chief Turki Alalshikh has claimed that Manchester United are in “advanced” discussions over new investment, fueling speculation about the future ownership involving Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazers.
“The best news I heard today is that Manchester United is now in an advanced stage of completing a deal to sell to a new investor,” Alalshikh posted on his X account, News.Az reports, citing The Telegraph.
The 44-year-old also took an apparent swipe at Ratcliffe, Ineos and the Glazers, by adding: “I hope he’s better than the previous owners.”
Alalshikh is the man behind “Riyadh Season”, a six-month series of events designed to attract visitors to Saudi Arabia. This year, the kingdom is hosting 15 global championships and 34 exhibitions and festivals.
Alalshikh, who is the chairman of Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority and has risen to prominence in the world of boxing, is known to be in talks with United about their participation in a mid-season friendly as part of Riyadh Season. But he suggested late on Wednesday night that the Premier League club are on the brink of agreeing a deal for new investment.
Ratcliffe’s Ineos bought a 28.94 per cent share in United last year after beating rival bidder Sheikh Jassim Al-Thani, a Qatari.
The £1.25bn investment gave Ratcliffe control of football operations at Old Trafford and the power to dictate managerial appointments – such as the dismissal of Erik ten Hag and hiring of Ruben Amorim – as well as player recruitment and infrastructure improvements. Ineos has already committed £50m towards a training ground revamp, part of £250m investment since taking a share of the club.
United declined to comment when contacted by Telegraph Sport. Ineos sources said there was no truth to the claims.
But Alalshikh’s comments come at a time when United and the Saudis are in negotiations about the mid-season visit to Saudi Arabia that could earn the club £10m.
There is space in the Riyadh Season calendar for a football event to be added, as Alalshikh has done previously. Paris St-Germain played an exhibition match in January 2023 against a Saudi All-Star team, thereby pitting Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo, while in February this year Inter Miami participated in a three-team tournament against Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, again pitting the two football superstars against each other.
Funds generated by playing a friendly in Saudi Arabia would go a little way towards making up for the loss of income caused by United’s failure to qualify for Europe this season. United reached the Europa League final last season but were beaten by Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur, meaning they failed to qualify for European competitions for the second time since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
That failure has cost United £100m in lost revenues plus a £10m penalty on their shirt sponsorship deal with Adidas, and has forced the club to seek alternative income. A post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong immediately after that Europa League final helped to generate about £8m.
Ratcliffe spoke about his relationship with the co-owning Glazer family in his interview with The Business podcast by The Times, which was released on Wednesday, in which he praised their “good working relationship”.
After giving strong backing to Amorim, United’s under-fire manager, Ratcliffe was asked what would happen if the American owners wanted to sack the Portuguese. “It absolutely wouldn’t happen because it’s just a good working relationship,” Ratcliffe said.
“They come to the board meetings. We sit down and we talk about things. We’ve made errors. There’s absolutely no question that we’ve made errors as we’ve gone along and we’ve talked about it. But no one’s perfect.”
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