Elliott Management has made it through the second stage of Manchester United's sale process - but it does not want to buy the club.
Representatives from the American hedge fund, which manages assets worth an eye-watering $56billion (£46bn), are reported to have been present at Old Trafford on Thursday for United's 4-1 victory over Real Betis in the Europa League. Elliott previously owned Italian giants AC Milan and while BBC Sport claims that it is not looking to buy a stake in United, the investment group is offering financial backing to all parties involved - including current owners the Glazers.
That could be done through a partial purchase or assisting with redevelopment work at Old Trafford and the club's Carrington training complex. Sky Sports adds that alongside INEOS chief executive Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, Elliott has reached the second phase of the Red Devils' sale process.
The hedge fund was founded in 1977 by American billionaire Paul Singer, who continues to lead the group as president. Elliott recently quashed reports that it was interested in purchasing a minority stake in United but it appears that talks remain ongoing with the Glazer family, who began "exploring strategic alternatives" in November.
Brothers Joel and Avram Glazer, the club's co-chairmen, are understood to be reluctant to sanction a full sale, which the four other Glazer siblings would allegedly prefer, having owned a majority stake since 2005. Representatives of Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim's bids are set to hold direct talks with Red Devils board members in Manchester next week.
According to the Daily Mail, United chiefs are set to offer presentations which will cover topics such as the club's transfer policy, scouting network and first-team operations. John Murtough, who's been at Old Trafford since 2014 and became the Red Devils' first football director in 2021, is expected to play a key role.
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To have any chance of success, though, the bidders will firstly need to meet the Glazers' reported £6bn asking price. Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim's first proposals - each believed to be worth in the region of £4.5bn - fall below that benchmark, with a second round of bidding already in the pipeline.
Any takeover isn't likely to be completed before the end of March, with manager Erik ten Hag and his team "focussing on football". "Of course I know [about the bids]," Ten Hag told Sky Sports last month. "There's movement around the club but it's not up to me. Others at the club are taking [charge of] this stuff and I have to manage the team.
"I have to make sure the team is perfect and getting the right results. Every third day, we have a game, so I don't have time to get involved in stuff like this. I t's not distracting us. We are focusing on football, on the games and preparing in training. That is our job to do. It doesn't distract us, so far so good."
