Enormous fee the Glazers would have to pay Ratcliffe if they backed out of deal

Manchester United and the Glazer family would reportedly have to pay Sir Jim Ratcliffe up to £52million if they pulled out of his minority stake deal.

The British petrochemicals billionaire and his Ineos Sports group agreed a £1.3billion deal to take a 25 per cent stake in the Old Trafford club and control of football operations.

The deal is subject to the Premier League completing regulatory checks on Ratcliffe, a process which could take up to eight weeks.

However, according to The Independent, if the Glazers wanted to terminate the deal in the meantime, they'd have to pay Ratcliffe $48m [£37.6m] plus an amount not to exceed $18m [£14.1m] to cover his expenses within three business days.

The report also revealed Ratcliffe's 25 per cent stake will increase to 29 per cent when his promised £245m investment into the infrastructure of Old Trafford and United's Carrington training ground is converted into more shares.

That would reduce the Glazers' share in United to 49 per cent and should they decide to offload more within the next year, Ratcliffe will have first refusal.

Should the Glazers decide to sell all of the club within 18 months, Ratcliffe would reportedly be obliged to sell his shares for $33 [£26] each - the price he has paid for them.

The 241-page deal document published on the New York Stock Exchange after the deal was announced on Christmas Eve also said Ratcliffe and Ineos must be consulted on any player transfers during this transition period.

That also applies to any decision to fire manager Erik ten Hag or replace football director John Murtough.

The document states that Ineos must be told if United consider 'appointing, dismissing or accepting the resignation of any Director of Football or First Team Manager of