Russian billionaire and previous co-owner of US pro basketball team, Mikhail Prokhorov, has expressed an interest in taking over Manchester United. This is according to SB Nation’s NetsDaily via Russia media reports.
Reportedly the 55-year-old Russian would like to return to ownership of a professional sports team after holding a majority stake in NBA team Brooklyn Nets for nine-and-half-years until September 2019.
It is no secret that United’s current owners, the Glazer family, have a vitriolic, less-than-ideal relationship with the current fanbase owing to their being indicted by the masses for their apparent lack of investment into the team and the fact that they aren’t football enthusiasts per se.
According to Forbes, Prokhorov has a net worth that is 2.4 times larger than the entire Glazer family at $11.3 billion, compared to the Glazer’s last recorded figure of 4.7 billion.
In the nine full seasons that Prokhorov held a controlling portion of the Nets, the Brooklyn outfit reached the playoffs just four times, losing all but one of these season-defining series in the first round.
Whilst many United supporters would like to see the end of the Glazers’ reign, Prokhorov is by no means a guaranteed upgrade.
The Russian made a few extremely poor decisions which hurt the Nets up until their relative revival following his departure over the last year.
Prokhorov gave up serious draft capital to facilitate trades of veteran star Joe Johnson, as well as future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, all as the trio approached the end of their careers.