Man Utd advisors confirm Sheikh Jassim is real following Sir Jim Ratcliffe jibe

The co-founder of Raine Group, who acted as Manchester United's financial advisor during their recent takeover process, has confirmed Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani a real person despite suggestions otherwise.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS won the race to purchase a 28% stake in United after the club confirmed in 2022 they were considering investment options. At the time, the Glazer family were open to a full sale.

Though Ratcliffe was successful with his bid, he was rivalled for several months by Sheikh Jassim, a member of the Qatari royal family and chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank. However, his low profile and minimal online presence led to various columns questioning whether he was actually a real person, and Ratcliffe even joked about this during one of his first interviews after being onboarded at United.

«Still nobody's ever seen him, actually,» Ratcliffe said of Sheikh Jassim. «The Glazers never met him...he never...I'm not sure he exists!»

But in an interview with , Joe Ravitch of Raine Group insisted Sheikh Jassim was indeed real and detailed his bid for the club.

«We met Jassim. He was in New York. He's a lovely guy; a very smart guy,» Ravitch said. «The Qataris were very real. They were very smart guys, very thoughtful. I don't know why they didn't appreciate the value [of the club] but we were not their adviser.

»We tried as the seller to explain the value to them, and they put what they thought was a series of very serious bids on the table.

«My clients [the Glazers] are also smart guys. We thought the value would be around $6.5bn [£5bn], so we were kind of spot on with regards to where Ratcliffe ended up.

»But when the Washington Commanders [NFL team] went for $6bn we all thought: 'Well, United is the most