'Does he exist?' Sir Jim Ratcliffe mocks Sheikh Jassim over attempt to buy Manchester United

Sir Jim Ratcliffe half-joked he is not sure if Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, his rival bidder to invest in Manchester United, even exists.

Sheikh Jassim submitted a bid to completely buy United in February 2023 but he withdrew from the running in October, leaving Ratcliffe as the only bidder left at the table.

Ratcliffe attended the Ineos Group's meetings with United staff in March last year whereas Sheikh Jassim never met Joel Glazer or Avram Glazer.

"Still nobody's ever seen him, actually," Ratcliffe told journalists in London. "The Glazers never met him. He never... I'm not sure he exists! I think it's extraordinary, really. But I agree with that - it was confounding."

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Ratcliffe confirmed the Securities and Exchange Commissions filings that the Qataris never showed proof of funds. "No, they didn't, no. They were they were obviously there and there was a whole host of people on the team in the squad, their squad.

"I didn't ever meet them. But it was it was a very odd affair."

When asked if he felt the Qataris had "played clean" over their briefings, Ratcliffe replied: "I'm not going to comment on that. I know what the answer is!"

Speaking in Knightsbridge, Ratcliffe also addressed his interest in buying Chelsea from Roman Abramovich in 2022 after a deadline was imposed on their sale following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"It's a simple answer to the question. We had a collection of quite interesting sports clubs - we've got Formula One, the Americas Cup, cycling, etc. But we've always recognised that the biggest sport in the world is football and the Premier League is the biggest league in the world.

"So