Will Manchester United Become the Most Expensive Sports Club in the World Following a Takeover?

While there is still no guarantee that the Glazer family will sell Manchester United, if a sale does go ahead, Manchester United will instantly become one of history’s most expensive sports teams.

According to reports, the bid that is most likely to win will be Qatar’s bid (Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani) or Jim Ratcliffe’s bid. The price for the club is expected to be worth in the region of £6 billion. Find out who is currently bidding for the Red Devils right here.

Who is in the running to take over Manchester United?
The two main parties currently in the running to buy English Premier League football club Manchester United are Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Also said to be interested are Oaktree Capital, Elliott Management, MSD Partners, and Ares, to name a few.

Several stories have been doing the rounds about the most likely candidates out of the many interested parties. The most positive talks have been with the Qataris and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Who do the odds favour?
To get a much better understanding of exactly who might be next to own Manchester United, the best thing to do would be to compare the odds. Based on the latest odds, it looks as though Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the slight odds-on favourite to buy the club.

If you’re based in South Africa and fancy having a flutter who might be successful with their takeover bid or on any upcoming football matches, one of the most trusted websites for sports betting in South Africa is the official 10Bet site.

Here are the latest odds and their implied probability rate:

• Jim Ratcliffe is currently priced at +300 in the American/moneyline odds format. This means that he has a 25% chance of winning the bid. In European decimal odds format, +300 is equal to 4.00, and in the UK fractional odds format, it’s 3/1
• Qatar Sovereign Group is priced at 320 (American/moneyline) with a 23.80% chance of winning the bid. This means 4.20 in decimal odds, and 16/5 in fractional odds
• Dubai Sovereign Group are currently priced at 400 (which is 5.00, or 4/1), with a 20% chance of winning the bid
• Michael Knighton is currently priced at 650 (7.5, or 13/2), with a 13.30% chance of winning the bid

Some other people who have also been mentioned in the bidding war are Jim O’Neill, Elon Musk, and Pagliuca/Tanenbaum Group.

You’re currently looking at odds of around 900 ( 10.00, or 9/1) for Jim O’Neill, 1,000 (11.00, or 10/1) for Elon Musk, and 1,500 (16.00, or 15.1) for the Pagliuca/Tanenbaum Group.

Where are Manchester United in the League?
Manchester United are currently third in the English Premier League behind second-place Manchester City, and league leaders Arsenal. Man United have 50 points after playing 26 games. They have won 15 of these games, drawn 5 and lost 6, and they have scored 41 and let in 35 goals.

Can Manchester United win the 2022/23 Premier League campaign?
Again, the best thing to do would be to check the latest odds at 10bet and then compare them to Arsenal and Manchester City’s odds. For example, despite sitting in third place, it’s currently not looking good for United to win the league.

Arsenal are just too far ahead on points. For example, Man United are currently priced at 10,000 (101.00, or 100/1, depending on which odds format you prefer). These odds mean that the Red Devils only have a 1.00% implied probability rate of actually winning the league.

In comparison, the current odds-on favourite team to win the Premier League outright are Arsenal. They are priced, on average, at around -167 (1.60, or 3/5), which means they have a whopping 62.50% implied probability rate of going on to win the league.

Upcoming fixtures
When Premier League action returns after the international break on Sunday, April 2nd, Manchester United travel away to St. James’s Park to play Newcastle United. On April 5th, United are at home to Brentford, and then on April 8th, they play Everton in another home game.

On April 13th, United play in the first leg of the quarter-final in the Europa League against Sevilla (at Old Trafford), and the second leg is scheduled for April 20th.

Final note
If you place a wager on any upcoming football matches, always try placing strategic/sensible bets that are more likely to return a profit.

Try not to chase your losses or overspend, and carry out as much research as possible before placing bets, such as reading the latest team news, using as many stats as possible, and understanding what the odds are trying to tell you.