INEOS owner and Britain's richest man Jim Ratcliffe reveals interest in purchasing Manchester United

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of the INEOS Grenadiers and Britain's richest man has now thrown his hat into the ring and announced his intention to become the new owner of one of the biggest football clubs in the world, Manchester United.

The 69-year-old billionaire's interest was sparked when the much-maligned current owners of the club, the Glazer family announced their intentions to finally sell up after years of supporter-led protests demanding they remove themselves from Old Trafford.

An INEOS spokesperson confirmed to the British newspaper The Times that "we have formally reported in the process.” Ratcliffe who alongside owning the Grenadiers also holds the majority shareholder stake in the French football team OGC Nice and in 2022 was close to taking control of Chelsea after the departure of Russian owner Roman Abramovich before Todd Boehly eventually won the race for the club.

During the takeover process at Chelsea, Ratcliffe actually revealed that the only reason he was interested in purchasing the London-based club was "because United is not for sale." Any deal for United will not be a cheap one, arguably the most marketable football team on the planet. The club are reportedly valued by the Glazers at around 5 billion pounds or 5.715 billion euros.