The Glazer family could follow Fenway Sports Group’s lead at Liverpool by trying to sell Manchester United in the near future, according to Gary Neville.
Liverpool’s owners FSG made headlines on Monday by releasing a statement confirming they were looking for outside investment in the club. The group said that “under the right terms and conditions we would consider new shareholders” but for now “ FSG remains fully committed to the success of Liverpool”.
FSG’s statement made reference to “a number of recent changes of ownership and rumours of changes in ownership at EPL clubs”, with Chelsea the obvious example after Todd Boehly’s consortium completed a £4.25billion takeover in May. Neville feels that Chelsea’s valuation has turned heads and changed the landscape overnight.
Liverpool were bought by FSG in October 2010 for £300m, while the Glazers took over United in 2005 for £790m. Neville thinks both groups will now be thinking hard about cashing in their chips.
“It absolutely makes sense,” Neville said on The Overlap. “They haven't got the money really, FSG, to compete with the other teams in the league. They've developed the stadium, they've got Jurgen Klopp at a point whereby, how long is he going to be around for? Is it two years, is it three years?
“If that Chelsea valuation, which at this moment in time sets the standard for valuations, they're thinking now is the time potentially for us to get out because if we dip down the league, if people think 'hang on a minute, Boehly's overpaid at Chelsea', and it becomes a bit more of a struggle in the next couple of years, they're probably thinking now is the right time.
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“And I think the Glazer family will be in a similar situation. I suspect both of them will be looking for 'outs' or 'part-outs'.
“The Glazer family, I think there's a couple of them that want to stay in, but with FSG, they I think put a £3-4bn valuation on Liverpool when they raised some money coming out of Covid. That's where they put the valuation at.
“They could probably get that at this moment in time, they might not be able to get that in two or three years. And they certainly can't compete financially with some of the other clubs in the league. So I think it's not as big a surprise when you look at some of the evidence surrounding it.”
Mirror Football understands that FSG chief John Henry values Liverpool at £4bn and has hired investment companies Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to conduct the sale. United have been valued between £3.75bn and £5bn as recently as September amid heightened speculation the Glazers want to sell.
On Tuesday Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, ruled himself out of buying Liverpool, saying he wanted to concentrate his attention on current side Nice. He told the Daily Telegraph : "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."
