Xavi's comments on 'incoming' Man Utd owner Sheikh Jassim speak volumes

14 June 2023 , 16:41

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Xavi's comments on 'incoming' Man Utd owner Sheikh Jassim speak volumes

Sheikh Jassim's race against INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe for the ownership of Manchester United remains ongoing but the former appears to have the backing of Barcelona boss Xavi.

The Old Trafford faithful had hoped the long-running saga was finally finished when reports emerged earlier this week that Sheikh Jassim's bid to purchase the club had been accepted by the Glazers, but those claims have since been outed as premature. As a result, the wait to see what will happen at boadroom level goes on.

Since the Glazers first went public with the fact they were open to selling back in November, there has been five rounds of bidding for the club and multiple deadlines passed. Sheikh Jassim is thought to have set a deadline of his own for a resolution, though that has also now passed.

There is still plenty to do before Sheikh Jassim can even be considered close to achieving full ownership at United, but if that does eventually become the reality, the move has the seal of approval from Barcelona icon Xavi.

The Spanish football legend was speaking ahead of the Blaugrana's meeting with United in the Europa League back in February, by which time this ownership saga had already been going on for three months.

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"I have a good relationship with the person interested in buying the club, he’s a serious person and I’m sure he’d do a good job," Xavi said when pressed for comment on the Qatari banker.

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"I know him so well. I think he’s a very good person with responsibility, serious. I think it would be a very good option for United."

Asked how he knows Sheikh Jassim, Xavi added: "Because I worked in Qatar (at Al Sadd) for six years."

More than 200 days on from first admitting they were not against the idea of selling, we are yet to hear any form of update from Avram or Joel Glazer, or Raine Group – the US merchant bank overseeing the process on their behalf.

The Glazers don't seem to be in any great rush to push forward the process, despite the uncertainty surrounding the situation potentially having knock-on effects for the club in the summer transfer window.

Boss Erik ten Hag was recently asked if he knew how much money he had to spend, to which he replied: "No, I don’t have influence on that, I don’t have and also I don’t know."

Josh O'Brien