Saudi Arabia denies crown prince seeks to buy Manchester United

The club held a meeting with PIF Saudi to discuss a sponsorship opportunity, however no deal was materialised

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is not seeking to buy Premier League football club Manchester United, the kingdom’s media minister said on Monday, denying reports and adding that there had only been a meeting with the Saudi wealth fund regarding sponsorship.

Reports that Mohammed Bin Salman intends to buy the club are “completely false”, the minister, Turki al-Shabanah, wrote on social network Twitter.

Reports claiming that HRH the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman intends on buying @ManUtd are completely false. Manchester United held a meeting with @PIFSaudi to discuss sponsorship opportunity . No deal has been materialized.

— تركي الشبانه (@TurkiAlshabanah) February 17, 2019

He was reacting to reports that the crown prince had sought to tempt the Glazer family to cede control of the club.



“Manchester United held a meeting with PIF Saudi to discuss (a) sponsorship opportunity,” Shabanah said, adding that no deal materialised.



On Sunday, the British newspaper, the Sun, said the crown prince was in a £3.8-billion takeover bid for one of football’s most popular clubs.

The paper said a bid was first submitted in October but diplomatic hurdles put the 'skids' on a potential offer.