Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Manchester United deal 'moves a step closer'

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's arrival at Manchester United as a minority shareholder allegedly moved a step closer on Thursday evening, with an announcement expected to arrive in the near future.

The British billionaire is set to pay £1.3bn to purchase 25% of Man United, and he is expected to immediately take control of all football operations at the club upon his arrival.

There was initially hope that a deal would be announced in November, the process has been hit with a number of roadblocks, forcing the date to be pushed back on multiple occasions.

A recent report claimed that Ratcliffe was hopeful that a deal would be announced by Christmas or by the end of the year at the latest, although he is still not expected to have much of an impact during the January transfer window.

According to The Times, Ratcliffe's partial takeover of the Manchester giants entered its 'final negotiations' on Thursday night.

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The report claims that the final stages have been worked on over the last week, but the deal still needs to be fully ratified by the Premier League.

Earlier this week, respected journalist Mike Keegan said on It's All Kicking Off: "The hope is still that it will be announced before Christmas, in the coming days, were the words given to me.

"I have a decent source in the US and they believe the next few days is realistic. One caveat to that is the approval process will take between six to eight weeks. United fans listening might think that's the transfer window out of the question.

"The transfer window, I am told - do not expect big moves from Manchester United and that has nothing to do with the takeover. That is to do with Financial Fair Play and the balance sheet."

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INEOS performance director Sir Dave Brailsford is set to make the move to the club, while it is widely thought that Jean-Claude Blanc will arrive as the new CEO following Richard Arnold's departure.

The 60-year-old is currently the chief executive of INEOS Sport, but he is expected to be a major figure in Ratcliffe's revamp of the football operations at Old Trafford.

Ratcliffe is coming in at an initial 25%, but it is understood that the 71-year-old has plans to complete a full takeover in the future, viewing this deal as the most suitable at this moment in time.

At one stage, it did appear that Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani would complete a full takeover of the club from the Glazer family.

However, the Qatari banker ultimately pulled out of the race, allegedly due to his frustration at dealing with the Glazers, who first signalled in November 2022 that they were open to a sale.