By Amie Wilson
Copyright manchestereveningnews
Manchester United have again been linked with a potential takeover of the club – this time within hours of minority co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe speaking out in an interview. A social media post from Saudi Arabian businessman Turki Al-Sheikh has prompted talks of potential new ownership at Old Trafford . The links come with United having had a mixed start to the season, sitting in 10th place in the Premier League table during the second international break, having already been dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Grimsby Town. Co-owner Ratcliffe has subsequently spoken out publicly about his plans, and how he intends to give head coach Ruben Amorim more time, but more uncertainty has been caused following the latest takeover news. With that in mind, here’s a roundup of everything around the developments this week. Saudi Billionaire Turki Al-Sheikh has prompted the return of rumours over a potential takeover with a social media post which read: “The best news I heard today is that Manchester United is now in an advanced stage of completing a deal to sell to a new investor… I hope he’s better than the previous owners.” The post led to a social media frenzy, but as reported by MEN Sport , United have been left surprised by the talk. If the Glazers are to think about cashing in, then it would take a bid starting at around £5.2billion . The Mirror report that the club’s current valuation is at around £2billion, but the family would demand a substantial premium that reflects the potential future increases in value. It would also factor in the potential worth given the plans to construct a new stadium. Plans for a new 100,000 seater arena – costing around £2billion – were announced back in March. United aren’t the only team that Al-Sheikh has been linked with in the last few months. Last month he was linked with a potential takeover of Championship club Bristol City. He however took to X to simply write: “It is not true that I will buy Bristol City FC (thumbs up).” The latest talk over a potential takeover comes just hours after a new interview was released with co-owner Ratcliffe. In the chat, he hinted that he is planning to stick around. Speaking about the recent budget cuts on The Times’ The Business podcast, he said: “The more cash you’ve got, the better squad you can build. “It’s like a Formula One car – the better car you can build, the quicker you go. The better your squad, the better your football should be. “So a lot of what we’ve done in the first year is spend an awful lot of time putting the club on a sustainable, healthy footing. If you look at our results for last year, we have the highest revenues ever. Profitability, the second highest ever. “We’re not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring that we’ve done in this set of results, and we weren’t in the Champions League . Those numbers will get better. Manchester United will become the most profitable football club in the world, in my view, and from that will stem, I hope, a long-term, sustainable, high-level of football.” Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories. And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts , and you can also watch along on YouTube .