SIR JIM RATCLIFFE is ready to sell French club OGC Nice with potential offers from Saudi Arabia, according to reports.
Ratcliffe, whose company Ineos acquired Nice in 2019 for £89m, is reportedly ready to shift the club on, less than two years after becoming a minority shareholder at Manchester United.
PASir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos is reportedly considering selling OGC Nice[/caption]
French outlet L’Informe have reported that Ratcliffe is ready to listen to offers for the Ligue 1 club, who currently sit just three points off the Champions League places in the French top flight.
They suggest that the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), who currently own Newcastle United, have already taken note of Ratcliffe’s position.
PIF are said to be “seriously considering” a move for Nice, who are yet to finish above fifth in the league since Ratcliffe’s takeover.
SunSport understands that any potential cash raised from a sale of Nice would fall well short of that needed to fund a full Ineos takeover of Man Utd.
Manchester United declined to comment when approached by SunSport.
The news of a potential sale comes after Ratcliffe claimed last March that he doesn’t like going to watch Nice play because the standard of football isn’t good enough.
He said: “I don’t particularly like going to see Nice because there are good players, but the level of football isn’t high enough for me to get excited.
“Nice’s best season was the one we weren’t allowed to get involved in due to timeshare rules.
GettyNice are just three points off the Champions League places in Ligue 1 this season[/caption]
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“They were so much better without our interference! Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned from that.”
Ratcliffe’s attention appears to have been focused on Man Utd since his £1.3bn investment in the Red Devils for a 27.7 per cent stake in the club.
The billionaire Brit has already announced plans to build a brand new £2billion 100,000-seat stadium in the near future.
While he has also implemented huge cost-cutting measures at the club that have included nearly 500 redundancies, scrapping free meals for Old Trafford staff and cancelling the staff Christmas party.
All this has coincided with United’s worst ever season on the pitch, with manager Ruben Amorim scrambling to try and win a European trophy to rescue a dismal domestic campaign that has the club languishing in 14th in the Premier League.
PAThe Red Devils are looking to create a 100,000-seater arena[/caption]
ReutersUnited have had a woeful season on the pitch[/caption] Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
