A Malaysian prince has set his sights on buying a stake in English Premier League side Manchester United.
Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, crown prince of the southern state of Johor, said on Friday he was “open to any shares in football in Europe” and singled out United as a particular target.
He said he knew there was an opening to invest in the club by buying a stake of three to five per cent.
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United, owned by the American Glazer family, were ranked as the world’s fourth richest club in the latest Deloitte Football Money League in January. But they saw income plummet by ?131m to ?580.4m in 2019-20, the biggest drop of any club in the annual rich list.
Ahead of them on the rich list were Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
The prince’s announcement comes just weeks after there was speculation he was going to be involved in a takeover bid for Spanish club Valencia.
‘SUPERB SUSTAINABILITY’
“Manchester United is a club which will take decades for its commercial value to go down,” the 36-year-old said. “In terms of sustainability they are superb. So that is why I will try to have a meeting.”
Tunku Ismail already owns Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim, who last year won their seventh straight Malaysian league title and unveiled their 40,000-capacity Sultan Ibraham Stadium.
- Reporting by AFP
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