Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already made his feelings clear on the Glazers amid new Man Utd takeover claim

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already made his feelings clear on the Glazer family amid a report that his bid to take over Manchester United is 'dead in the water'.

The British billionaire, a boyhood United fan, is one of the key players in the takeover process, and wants to acquire a majority stake in the club from the Glazer family.

His offers for the club have been launched alongside his petrochemicals company, INEOS, which also holds an equal one-third share in the Mercedes F1 team.

His main competitor for United has been Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim, who is bidding for a full takeover of the club through his Nine Two Foundation.

Updates on the takeover process have been slow, with one bidder, Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus, even describing it as 'the most farcical takeover in history' earlier this month.

The Guardian claim that Sheikh Jassim has 'slipped ahead' of Ratcliffe in the race to take over United, with Bloomberg reporting that Ratcliffe's bid has attracted opposition from current minority shareholders, who would not be bought out.

And speaking to The United View, Bloomberg financial expert David Hellier said: "I was picking up from advisers to Man Utd that basically [Ratcliffe's] bid, as it stands, is dead in the water - absolutely dead in the water."

Ratcliffe did visit Old Trafford in April as part of one particular stage of the process - but had previously already met the Glazers before giving his initial views on the family.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe on Glazer family

In his new book (extract quotes via The Times), Ratcliffe explained how he and INEOS had held talks with Barcelona over possible investment - which eventually didn't happen.

Rumours of a possible sale of United by the Glazers, however, originated in the summer of 2022, prior to the club's announcement that they were seeking strategic alternatives.

And Ratcliffe, who then met with the Glazers, revealed his own thoughts on the six siblings. He wrote: "We went to see them and they were charming.

"They [Avram, Joel, Kevin, Bryan, Darcie and Edward] are all very nice, despite the press they get. Josh was really hospitable.

"But the club is owned equally by siblings and you can't talk to that many siblings really."

All six siblings own shares in United. As per The Athletic, Joel Glazer has the most voting (19.11 per cent), with Darcie (18.15 per cent) having the second-highest amount of voting power.

Avram, meanwhile, has 14.38 per cent - making him the fourth-most powerful sibling. Only Joel and Darcie own Class A shares, which carry 10 times fewer voting rights than Class B shares.