While Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group continue to mull their longer-term options with the club, Manchester United's latest move points to a sale that could be swift.
Days after it was revealed in early November that FSG were willing to listen to expressions of interest from parties wanting to take over their controlling stake in the Reds, with a valuation of $4bn (£3.3bn) or more understood to be the starting point for any negotiations, United owners the Glazer family made moves of their own.
The ECHO understands that while a full sale is a possibility for Liverpool, the direction of travel from FSG at present is one leaning toward a partial sale of the club to a minority partner that could provide strategic capital and potentially accrete that investment into a controlling stake over time.
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United's owners, while they too mentioned the possibility of outside investment, have a greater desire to rid themselves of their asset, which is valued at between £5bn and £6bn, and in hiring the Raine Group, the firm that oversaw the fraught takeover process for Chelsea on a tight timescale last year, it is the clearest indicator that the Glazers wish to expedite the sale of a club where they have delivered little success in the past decade and where they have become deeply unpopular with supporters.
One of the hallmarks of what has been seen of the decline of United under the Glazers has been how the state of their Old Trafford home, so long a fortress of English football, has mirrored the decline of the club competitively.
Where Anfield has seen major investment in recent years of some £200m, with the huge refurbishment of the Main Stand and the current £80m works being undertaken with the Anfield Road end - two moves that have raised the capacity of the ground to what will be 60,000 by the start of next season, Old Trafford has suffered from a chronic lack of investment.
Last year, prior to the reveal that the Glazers would be willing top sell the club, plans to either remodel the stadium or knock it down and start again were pursued. Either choice would represent an enormous outlay but would have shown a commitment to the longer-term growth plans for the club to be a competitive force on and off the pitch. Having led the field in English football for so long off the pitch, United now find themselves behind both Liverpool and Manchester City when it comes to their revenue generation.
The Daily Mail report that United's owners are now likely to put a hold on pressing ahead with any development plans as they seek to end their tenure at the club. The Mail report that plans for the refurbishment of Old Trafford could cost £1bn while a new stadium could cost as much as £2bn.
Such major plans being put on hold point to an exit for the Glazers being on the horizon in the not too distant future, with some reports suggesting that they could part company with the club in the first quarter of the year, although that is a tight timescale to get such a major deal done. Plans for the direction of the club's infrastructure plans are likely to be decided by whoever take the reins at Old Trafford.
For Liverpool the plan is different. The sale of Chelsea for £2.5bn was one of the reasons that FSG sought to gauge market interest in an asset the size of Liverpool, but it has not been an intention to sell the club unless a major offer arises that would be too good to turn down for John W. Henry and FSG's partners, one that would avoid the risk of them leaving money on the table given the expected increase of club valuations and greater prospect for further revenue generation through reaching new markets through new innovations in the coming seasons.
The re-development of the Anfield Road end was something done to aid the future revenue growth prospects of the Reds, allowing them to satisfy demand to a greater level and offer even more commercial opportunities.
Investment remains the preference, although a major offer would change the stance. But for Liverpool's owners they continue to plan for their future with the club, while United's have signalled their intentions to check out as soon as possible, a move that kicks the can down the road for the club and its ambitions to get back to the summit of the English game both competitively and financially.
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