After announcing a third round of bids to purchase the club, Manchester United has lost one of its potential buyers.
Finnish billionaire Thomas Zilliacus — who entered the fray when the second round’s deadline was extended — announced in a series of tweets that he won’t submit a third bid to buy Man United.
“The bidding is turning into a farce, with [the] Glazers giving no respect to the club,” Zilliacus said in the first tweet. “The delays will make it very difficult for any new owner to build a winning team for next season.”
Zilliacus went on to say that he and the other two public finalists to buy the team outright — Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Britain’s Jim Ratcliffe — were ready to negotiate with the Glazers, who instead announced a third round of bidding.
Zilliacus characterized the situation as “a farce set up to maximize the profit for the sellers at the expense of Manchester United.”
The Glazer family is apparently still insisting on a purchase price of $7.5 billion — which would easily make the sale the largest in the history of pro sports. Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe have both reportedly submitted bids of around $6.2 billion, which would still break the record.
The latest turn of events will likely fuel continued speculation from across Europe that the Glazers have no intention of actually selling the storied club.
