Sir Jim Ratcliffe's takeover bid for Manchester United includes a clause which would eventually see him force out the Glazers in the coming years.
INEOS chief Ratcliffe is one of the two frontrunners to buy Manchester United along with Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani. The pair recently submitted their third and final bids, with Sheikh Jassim proposing a complete buyout and Ratcliffe making an offer to take a controlling interest in the club and allow Joel and Avram Glazer to retain a 20% stake in United.
News of the Glazer family potentially remaining involved with United should Ratcliffe's bid be successful angered many fans, who are desperate for them to finally leave the club for good.
However, Sky News report Ratcliffe does intend to complete a full buyout, with his bid including 'put-and-call arrangements' which would lead to the Glazer's leaving United altogether. The report states that Ratcliffe would be able to exercise the arrangements in 2026, forcing the Glazers to sell the rest of their shares to him.
Back in February, the 70-year-old outlined his vision for United in a statement vowing to invest heavily and make them "the number one club in the world once again". The statement read: "We would see our role as the long-term custodians of Manchester United on behalf of the fans and the wider community.
"We are ambitious and highly competitive and would want to invest in Manchester United to make them the number one club in the world once again. We also recognise that football governance in this country is at a crossroads.
"We would want to help lead this next chapter, deepening the culture of English football by making the club a beacon for a modern, progressive, fan-centred approach to ownership. We want a Manchester United anchored in its proud history and roots in the North-West of England, putting the Manchester back into Manchester United and clearly focusing on winning the Champions League."
Ratcliffe also owns Nice, and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who joined the French club from Leicester last summer, believes he would do an excellent job if he bought United. "One of the biggest reasons I joined Nice was because of INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford and their vision of how they want to evolve their sports," Schmeichel told Monday Night Football.
"They have been successful in business and every other sporting venture they have thrown their investment at. Jim is a big Manchester United fan and I think that speaks to a lot of fans that he is someone who cares about the club.
"From my own experience at Nice, he is a man who is present, comes to games, is knowledgeable about football and has a vast knowledge about performance in general. He has great people like Dave Brailsford who work for him.
"The owners are present, there isn't the divide between the people who own the club and those who are there on a daily basis. I am biased in terms of hoping INEOS are the preferred bidders."
