Sir Jim Ratcliffe has ruled himself out of the running to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family.
The news will devastate United fans desperate to see the Tampa Bay family removed from the club.
It comes off the back of Fenway Sports Group putting Liverpool up for sale and a spokesman for Ratcliffe told The Telegraph (quotes via The Daily Mail):
“Our position has developed since the summer, and we are now focusing our efforts in Nice and raising our ambitions for the club to make them into a top tier club in France to compete with PSG.
“This would represent much better value for our investment than buying one of the top tier Premier League clubs.”
With the value of the biggest English clubs reaching astounding heights, it is easy to see why any sensible businessperson might look to avoid them.
Chelsea were recently sold for £4.25bn to Todd Boehly, setting the benchmark for club values at the top of the English football pyramid.
As reported by The Peoples Person last month, the Glazer family are said to value Manchester United at around $10bn.
Ratcliffe was previously thought to be among the frontrunners to purchase United, possessing the financial muscle to lead a takeover bid while also being a lifelong fan.
There were rumours that the billionaire was considering buying a stake in Liverpool after FSG put them on the market, but that will not be happening either.
It seems that Ratcliffe will now look to focus on his project at Nice.
The French side currently sit 9th in the Ligue 1 table, meaning that a genuine challenge to Paris Saint-Germain is some way off, even if that is the ultimate ambition.
