Izuchukwu OkosiManchester United on Sunday evening announced the 25% acquisition of the club by Sir Jim Ratcliffe more than a year after the club was put up for sale by the Glazers.
Ratcliffe is widely known as the second most richest man in the United Kingdom and was linked with interest to buy Chelsea and Barcelona in the past.
Ratcliffe is the owner of petrochemicals company INEOS and had initially nodded to buy at least 69% stake at the club which was flatly denied by the Americans, Glazers family.
The club has revealed that aside the £1 billion deal, the new part owners will inject the sum of $300 million into it and take responsibility of running the football related aspects of the club which includes player buys and sales.
A Qatari investment group and Elon Musk were some of the earlier bidders for stakes at United.
The fanbase had always clamoured for communication with the hierachy at the club, something that they never enjoyed under the current majority shareholders.
The timing of the 25% takeover caught many in the football industry by surprise as the year 2023 winds down but with the January transfer window fast approaching, it could be a strategic step geared towards convincing players they have earmarked for recruitment.
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.
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