Sir Jim Ratcliffe is looking to move OGC Nice on with a possible sale, after reports claim that the Manchester United co-owner has slashed his asking price for the French club.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe arrives at the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Southampton FC
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has slashed the price of Nice for a potential sale of the French club(Image: (Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images))
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Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has slashed the asking price of French club OGC Nice, in a continued bid to end his stake in the team.
That's according to Bloomberg, which states that Ineos had been seeking over €200m (£173m) to complete a full sale of the club in the coming weeks and months.
Ratcliffe had put Nice up for sale last year, but there are claims that investors were not willing to pay the asking price for the Ligue 1 outfit, so the price has "come down significantly" to aid in offloading them.
The main challenge facing the British billionaire, and the advisory firm Lazard Inc, who were hired to help seal a deal, surrounds uncertainty with the TV deal in France.
DAZN had originally taken on the rights, but after a deal collapsed, Ligue 1 have been managing and distributing their own broadcast deal among clubs.
Any deal for an investor to buy the Ineos stake in Nice would end nearly seven years of the company at the head of the French club, which has come with mixed results.
So far, Les Aiglons sit 14th in the league with just a six-point buffer to the relegation places, while they are yet to register a single point in the Europa League, with criticism coming in for the management of the club in recent years.
It comes at a time when Manchester United face their own challenges and turbulence under the part-ownership of Ineos and Ratcliffe.
There have been signs of improvement, following last season's dismal showing in the Premier League when they finished 15th, but chaos has ensued following the decision to sack Ruben Amorim.
The Portuguese coach was the first full-time head coach hired under the new ownership and sporting structure, which has seen Ratcliffe's group attempt to transform the way they operate behind the scenes.
This clearly caused tension for Amorim, who outlined the fact that he wanted to be a manager and not a head coach at the club, despite the new structure featuring a director of football in Jason Wilcox.
"I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United. That is clear," he said in early January when asked about his optimism with the board.
"I know that my name is not Tuchel, is not Conte, is not Mourinho, but I'm the manager of Manchester United. It's going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decided to change. That was my point. I want to finish with that. I'm not going to quit. I will do my job until other guy is coming here to replace me.
"I just want to say that I'm going to be the manager of this team, not just the coach. I was really clear on that. That is going to finish in 18 months, and then everyone is going to move on.
"That was the deal. That is my job, not to be a coach. If people cannot handle the Gary Nevilles and the criticises of everything, we need to change the club.
"No, no guys, I would say that I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach. Every department, the scouting department, the sport director needs to do their job. I will do mine for 18 months and then we move on. Thank you, guys."
His exit, along with the hiring of Michael Carrick as caretaker manager, outlined the need for Ineos to get the next hire right to help push Man United in the right direction again, while there has been some scrutiny over the situation with the departing head coach.
That change in direction will have to coincide with a clear game model implemented from the sporting department, along with the right types of players signed by the recruitment department to play specific roles.
Whether they can create that joined-up thinking in the hierarchy remains to be seen.