Sports

Qatari Investors Join Elon Musk, Ratcliffe In Man United Bid

Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the chairman of one of Qatar’s biggest banks has officially submitted bid to buy Manchester United before the 11pm soft deadline.

Sheikh Jassim, who is a a life-long Manchester United fan is the chairman of Qatari bank QIB and the son of a former prime minister of Qatar.

The move comes ahead of Friday’s 22:00 GMT ‘soft deadline’ for submitting proposals.

It is the second bid to be made public after businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe stated his interest last month.

Tesla boss, Elon Musk has also made his intention known about buying the club.

“The offer aims to restore the club to its former glory, both on and off the pitch, and will focus on putting fans back at the heart of Manchester United Football Club, said the Qatari consortium.

“The offer will be completely debt-free via the Sheikh Jassim Foundation, which will invest in the teams, training facility, stadium, infrastructure and communities that the club supports”.

The Glazer family, who bought United in 2005, are considering selling the club as they “explore strategic alternatives”.

The statement from the consortium did not provide any details on the amount proposed in the bid for the club.

The Glazer family are believed to be looking for a sale price of at least £5billion.

There are also expected to be at least two offers for United from the United States, while there have been suggestions of interest from Saudi Arabia.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.