Ineos billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe is keen to buy a stake in Manchester United, his spokesman has confirmed.
The Glazer family, who have owned the 20-time English champions since 2005, are believed to be open to the possibility of selling a minority stake in the club.
According to Bloomberg, there have already been preliminary talks over the possibility of bringing in an investor, and Ratcliffe has now signalled a desire to come on board.
"If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer," a spokesman told The Times. "If something like this was possible, we would be interested in talking with a view to long-term ownership.
"This is not about the money that has been spent or not spent. Jim is looking at what can be done now and, knowing how important the club is to the city, it feels like the time is right for a reset."
© Reuters
Ratcliffe - a Man United fan - failed with a late offer for Chelsea in May, but the British billionaire remains keen to own a Premier League club.
According to Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol, the Glazers are not currently interested in selling the club despite the recent rumours but are open to 'bringing in more investment'.
"The Glazer family don't want to sell Manchester United, according to Bloomberg, but just bring in more investment to the club," said Solhekol.
"The New York Stock Exchange has reacted to that news with United shares going up by four per cent this morning and, according to Bloomberg, any potential deal could see Manchester United valued at up to £5 billion. United are not commenting on these reports at all.
"If we're talking about bringing in investment to a club like Manchester United, there are a lot of people out there who want to invest in Premier League clubs at the moment. We saw when Chelsea were put up for sale the New York Investment Bank, who were marketing the sale, were contacted by more than 100 parties.
"There is a lot of interest, especially in the US, in investing in Premier League clubs. Why do they want to do that? They think they can get a good deal at the moment and that the value of Premier League clubs is going to boom in the next few years because they believe there will be a lot more interest in streaming and they can make money from the fans these Premier League clubs have all around the world.
© Reuters
"As far at the Glazer family are concerned, they effectively sold a minority stake in United before because they floated the club on the New York Stock Exchange, selling 10% of their shares. They sold that stake to shareholders - this time it's about bringing in an investor."
Man United are currently bottom of the Premier League table, losing their opening two matches of the 2022-23 campaign to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford.
The club have only managed to make three new signings this summer - Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez - but there are likely to be more additions before the end of the window.
"When a business is failing and it's not performing, it is the owners of that business [who are to blame]. It is really simple. It is failing miserably. They took about £24m out of the club two months ago and they have now got a decrepit, rotting stadium, which is, to be fair, second-rate, when it used to be the best in the world 15-20 years ago," former Man United captain Gary Neville recently said when discussing the Glazers.
"You have got a football club where they haven't got a clue. They have bankers in charge of the football club, not making football decisions. They have not appointed a sporting director.
"We can look at the players all you like, but there are that many big things that need to be put right first, they have got to show up and basically face the music. Now is the time. They can't keep hiding in Tampa and thinking that nothing is going to come back to them."
The world's richest man, Elon Musk, recently claimed on social media that he was interested in buying Man United before admitting that the statement was part of "a long-running joke on Twitter".
Matt Law
