Jim Ratcliffe confirms he is in the running to buy Man Utd

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has confirmed Ineos are in the bidding to buy Manchester United.

Britain's richest man wants to complete a purchase of the Premier League club, which has been up for sale since November.

An Ineos spokesperson told the Times: "We have formally put ourselves into the process."

United have been owned by the Glazer family since 2005, with the American owners proving to be controversial figures. Protests are common outside Old Trafford before and after games, with supporters passionately against the Glazer ownership.

They confirmed late last year they were examining potential sources of outside investment. The Glazer family didn't rule out a full sale being part of that process.

United's last Premier League title came in 2013 when legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

Their last trophy of any kind came in 2017 when the Red Devils won the Carabao Cup and Europa League under Jose Mourinho.

The Glazers are expected to hold out for over £5 billion regarding a full sale.

Ratcliffe is a boyhood United fan, having expressed his interest in purchasing the club in recent years.

Ratcliffe was interested in purchasing Chelsea when they were on the market in 2022. Russian owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell up due to his connections to Vladimir Putin.

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Ineos currently owns Ligue 1 side Nice and the company is interested in continuing its expansion into the sport if financially viable.

Ratcliffe revealed back in October he'd previously met Joel and Avram Glazer. The 70-year-old explained during a Financial Times event: "Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family, whom I have met. I've met Joel and Avram and they are the nicest people, I have to say. They are proper gentlemen.

"They don't want to sell it. It's owned by the six children of the father and they don't want to sell it.

"If it had been for sale in the summer then, yes, we would have probably had a go following on from the Chelsea thing. But we can't sit around hoping that, one day, Manchester United will become available.

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"We have an exciting sporting franchise [Nice] but the one thing we don't have is a premier team.

"So what will happen now? We have a sports franchise. We own a third of Mercedes' Formula 1 team. Robbed last year. The one thing we don't have is football, the most popular sport in the world.

"We should have a premier club. Nice has got a very interesting history. We'll have a look at what we might be able to do with Nice."

United are currently fourth in the Premier League after defeating bitter rivals Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday. They return to action on Wednesday evening against Crystal Palace.