United’s ownership saga has long been a soap opera of global proportions. The Glazer family, who have held majority control since 2005, rejected a full buyout offer from Sheikh Jassim Al-Thani’s Qatari consortium last year, instead selling 27.7 per cent of the club to British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe for £1.25 billion.
While Ratcliffe’s minority stake gave him significant control over football operations, it left fans divided — some saw him as a saviour, others as a continuation of Glazer rule by proxy.
Now, with Al-Sheikh’s comments, questions swirl once again: is there an actual buyer at the table, or was this a carefully timed tease from one of Saudi Arabia’s most influential powerbrokers?
As of Thursday morning, Manchester United and the Glazer family had made no official comment on Al-Sheikh’s claim.