According to the British media Mirror, the Glazer family is willing to consider selling Manchester United shares for more than 5 billion pounds, and this price is more than twice the current valuation of the shares.
Although Manchester United has different opinions, speculation that Saudi Arabia wants to acquire Manchester United has become increasingly intense. However, if the Glazer family is to be persuaded to sell the club, its initial offer would need to reach around £5.2 billion to be realistic.
Twenty years ago, the Glazer family took control of Manchester United for 790 million pounds, and the current value of their shares is 2 billion pounds. However, the Glazer family will demand a high premium. This premium reflects Manchester United's potential future value-added space, which will take into account the possible market value of the club if it completes its plan to build a new top-level stadium.
In addition, the Glazer family has an option: to sell part of its 48.9% stake in Manchester United in exchange for a large investment from Saudi Arabia to provide financial support for the construction of the new stadium.
Manchester United's senior management announced plans to build a new stadium for 100,000 people in March this year, costing about 2 billion pounds. But it is understood United are still far from the funding needed for such an ambitious plan.
The Glazer family rejected the acquisition by the Qatar consortium last year and sold 27.7% of the club's shares to Ratcliffe and his Ineos Group. Ratcliffe was paid £1.25bn and allowed to take charge of football operations at Old Trafford.