Manchester United is gearing up for the next phase of its potential sale of with a series of meetings all set to be held over the next fortnight with the candidates moving into the second stage of the process.<\/p>\n
The series of meetings are scheduled to take place in either London or Manchester, which will include representatives from both the Old Trafford hierarchy and the Raine Group, as the latter has been entrusted the sober task of handling the sales process.<\/p>\n
As it stands currently, the only known bidders are Britain\u2019s wealthiest man Sir Jim Radcliffe, via his company INEOS, and Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim bin Gamad al-Thani.<\/p>\n
The general assumption is that there are other potential funding options, with the Elliott investment group, which previously owned AC Milan, said to be eager to get involved in the role of a lender.<\/p>\n
Also, those involved are in the process of being informed whether they have made it through to the next stage.<\/p>\n
News is already started going around that United co-chairman Avram Glazer’s presence at Wembley for United’s EFL Cup final win against Newcastle has fuelled speculation his family may be attempting to hang on to their ownership of the club, although, with the exception of fellow co-chairman Joel, the four other Glazer siblings are allegedly construed to be lukewarm about the family\u2019s involvement with United.<\/p>\n
Whatever the eventual outcome, it is inevitable that whoever ends up running the club is facing significant outlay on the stadium, which will either involve a total, complete redevelopment of Old Trafford, or alternatively building a completely new ground from the gorund up on land adjacent to the current ground, for which the likely cost is estimated at about \u00a32bn.<\/p>\n
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