Sir Jim Ratcliffe could purchase every single Premier League club, including Manchester United, with his vast personal fortune. The INEOS chief is on the verge of striking a lucrative deal with the Glazers, which will give him a 25 per cent stake at Old Trafford and a seat at the table of the Red Devils’ sporting committee.
Sir Jim was raised in a Lancashire council house until the age of 10 by his dad, a joiner, and his mum, an accounts worker. He went on to study chemical engineering at Birmingham University before gaining an MBA from London Business School in 1980.
Now worth an estimated £29.6billion, the 70-year-old is the second-richest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times. INEOS, founded by Sir Jim in 1998, is now the fourth-largest petrochemicals company in the world.
So vast is the personal fortune amassed by United’s incoming minority owner, he has enough cash to buy out all 20 clubs currently in the Premier League.
As per Forbes’ valuations, the £26million theoretically required to purchase newly-promoted Luton Town would be little more than pocket change for Sir Jim. INEOS are reported to pull in a mammoth £137m in revenue every single day.
The same goes for Burnley, Sheffield United and Bournemouth, who are all low down in the table charting club valuations. United top the pile, with a theoretical value of £4.8bn, even though the Glazers’ personal price tag of £6bn has become an open secret.
Despite the Brit’s vast wealth, his arrival at Old Trafford will not give manager Erik ten Hag a bottomless pit of money to play with in the transfer market. Financial Fair Play restrictions limited the extent to which the Glazers could improve United’s squad over the summer.
The Red Devils spent almost £200m on the likes of Rasmus Hojlund, Andre Onana and Mason Mount. But a challenge is unlikely to deter Sir Jim and his team of INEOS specialists, who already have experience of running sports teams such as OGC Nice and INEOS cycling.
