'Gobsmacked' - Simon Jordan reveals thoughts on reported Man United takeover figures

The Premier League side's current owners, the Glazers, confirmed in November that they are ready to sell the club.

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is Britain's richest man with a net worth of £6.75bn according to the Sunday Times Rich List, has recently affirmed his intentions of buying United.

The Glazers are seeking in excess of £6billion for the club, but talkSPORT host Jordan - who used to own Crystal Palace - has revealed he'd be shocked to see them be sold for such a figure.

Speaking on White and Jordan on Wednesday, he said: "If you're going to spend £5billion on a football club, you are going to want some return on it.

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"We can't all expect everyone to be a fairy godmother trying to influence people's thinking by being a nation state buying a football club for very different reasons than somebody that's a commercial man that's indexed to it for other reasons.

"So there has to be some form of commercial thinking behind it so with that in mind, do Manchester United get sold at £6/7billion? I'd be gobsmacked if they did.

"If it gets into the territory of between £4-6billion, by that I mean probably £5billion, then the conversation happens."

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Ratcliffe, who is a United fan himself, is the first party to publicly announce their interest in a purchase.

He was previously interested in buying Chelsea last year, but he lost out to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.

In 2019 he bought French side Nice, two years after taking over Swiss side FC Lausanne-Sport.

Jordan added: "Jim Ratcliffe is a very astute businessman, a very successful businessman.

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"He also has quite a significant footprint in sport whether it's in cycling or whether it's in motor racing, or whether it's in the football clubs that he's involved in Switzerland and France in.

"This is nobody's fool, and obviously part and parcel of his motivation is to own arguably the biggest football club. Man United winning the Premier League, Man United being back amongst the elite will eclipse everybody economically.

"The fact that they're not far behind everybody and still not pulling up any trees tells you that once they're back in the groove again, they'll be back in the economic top of the tree scenario."

A takeover of United could come 'very soon', with the football giants set to enter a new era in their highly successful history.

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