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Manchester United fans in Shanghai watch their team. Photo: AFP
SportFootball

It's a funny old game: Mystery Chinese investors rumoured to be making 3.5 billion euro bid for Manchester United stake

Reports claim a group of investors are making massive bid for Premier League giants

SCMP Reporter
SCMP Reporter
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Chinese sports newspaper Titan claims that a group of investors are making a 3.5 billion euro (US$3.853 billion) offer for a stake in English Premier League giants Manchester United.

If true, it would eclipse the previous biggest move by China into football - billionaire Wang Jianlin's 20 per cent stake in Atletico Madrid.

The report claims the investors have already made contact with United.

A spokesperson for CITIC Capital, named as leading the bid in the report, told the SCMP the company was not involved in any bid talks.

It adds that the investors recognise that the Glazer family have no incentive to sell their Class B shares, which effectively give them a controlling stake in the club, as the team is a massive cash cow for them. Therefore, they will settle for a stake. 

READ > All our English Premier League coverage 

United are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but the Glazer's Class B shares have 10 times the voting power of the NYSE Class A shares.

The demands of the Chinese investors, adds the report, are only "football-related", such as arranging friendlies, developing business opportunities in China, etc. 

That would seem to make the massive deal even more unbelievable, with the entire club valued at only around 2.8 billion euros in Forbes magazine's latest list of the most valuable sports teams. 
In January, Wang Jianlin, one of China's richest men, stunned football when he spent 45 million euros for a 20 per cent stake in Atletico.  Chinese firms have also been reported in connection with takeovers of Dutch side ADO Den Haag and French team Sochaux. 
The report comes after president Xi Jinping, a huge soccer fan, called for closer sporting links with Britain and China on his state visit to the UK - though it was Manchester City, rather than their rivals, to whom Xi paid a visit.
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