Manchester United: the prestigious English club is for sale and makes the wealthy salivate

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If Manchester City is Emirati, neighboring Manchester United could well become Qatari.

The Glazer family, which owns the legendary club, is looking for new investors and the Arabian Gulf is the likely place to look.

If the Qatari offer materializes, there is talk of major investment in Old Trafford and elsewhere in the city of Manchester .

Nothing is signed yet, but there is already talk of the changes that the club would undergo under the aegis of Qatar. 

Old Trafford needs a facelift and the Carrington training center also needs a facelift. And good news, desert investors are willing to spend large sums on infrastructure to restore the image of Man U.

The filing of files was to be done before last night at 10 p.m. >

When it comes to investment coming from Qatar, we are talking about Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani who also owns Paris Saint-Germain through Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).

The Glazer family, who started investing in Manchester United in 2003, expect to hit the jackpot with this sale. 

Big sum

Sky News is talking about a minimum sum of £5 billion (CA$8.1 billion), which QSI is not willing to pay. The club is valued at 2.9 billion pounds (CA$4.7 billion) by the New York Stock Exchange.

That said, the Emir is a supporter of Manchester United so nothing is impossible, especially since he has plenty of means for his ambitions.

This offer and another which could come from Arabia Saudi Arabia would be the only two not to depend on loans, which is not negligible.

There are other interested parties in the ranks. In particular, there was talk of Elon Musk who has already made jokes on Twitter about a takeover of Man U of which he is a supporter.

Several offers

British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who made his fortune in the petrochemical industry, is also in the running. He is preparing a financial package with the help of American investment firms Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. In all, we are talking about three or four offers, which had to be submitted before the deadline.

If Qatar were to win, the QSI group would not own Manchester United. Indeed, as UEFA has a policy governing multiple ownership, ownership would revert to investors or investment funds linked to the royal family.

Qatar, through QSI, bought 70% of PSG shares in 2011 before buying the remaining 30% the following year. Approximately one hundred million euros ($143.2 million CAD) were invested in the two transactions. The club is now valued at 2.95 billion euros (CA$4.2 billion).

Success and dissatisfaction

QSI sees big for PSG and would like to redevelop the Parc des Princes sector which is a property of the City of Paris. Negotiations are not easy between the two parties. 

With Old Trafford, the Qataris would own their stadium and surrounding land and could ensure its development, in concert with local elected officials and supporters.

It is not the first time that Qatari investors have been linked with an English club. Their interest in the Premier League is not new. They want to build on the achievements of the recent World Cup presented at home.

It should also be noted that even if things are going well for them in Ligue 1 with PSG, the income from the Premier League are three times higher than what we see in France. 

IT WILL NOT BE MARSCH

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Earlier this week there was talk that Jesse Marschtakes the reins of Southampton at least until the end of the season, but the talks have broken down and it is not the former head coach of the Montreal Impact who will be in charge. We have instead entrusted the interim to Ruben Selles… at least for this weekend's game against Chelsea. Negotiations with Marsch appear to have broken down on Wednesday.

SPANISH REFEREES SURVEY

Spanish justice is looking into payments that the former president of the referees committee, José Maria Enriquez Negreira, allegedly received from FC Barcelona between 2016 and 2018. According to Reuters, the payments were made over three years to a company belonging to the man. Barça is accused of having paid 1.4 million euros (C$2 million) to the company in question between 2016 and 2018. 

TOTTENHAM IS NOT FOR SALE

Although Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi is currently in the process of arranging £3.1 billion (C$5 billion) with MSP Sports Capital in an attempt to acquire Tottenham Hotspur, the club n is not for sale. So far, there has been no contact between the two parties. The club led by Harry Kane is healthy, benefits from popular facilities and has land around its stadium that can be developed, which makes it very interesting. 

LIONEL MESSI'S HESITATION WALTZ

Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Neymar wait before taking a free-kick in a Champions League game earlier this week.

Lionel Messi's contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires in June and the Argentinian's future is unleashing passions. This is even more true since a meeting between his father and the club produced nothing earlier this week. Messi does not seem at all in the process of signing a new agreement with his current club. In Spain, we see him return to FC Barcelona while in Argentina, it is argued that his future lies in MLS and more specifically at Inter Miami. It's an exciting file that we will follow.

MATCHES TO WATCH 

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Real Madrid v. Liverpool
Tuesday

Naples v. Eintracth Frankfurt
Tuesday

Manchester City v. RB Leipzig
Wednesday

Inter Milan v. Porto
Wednesday 

Second leg of the round of 16 first legs. There are some very interesting duels here, especially the one between Madrid and Liverpool which is almost a final before time. We must also be intrigued by Inter Milan against Porto.