Sir Jim Ratcliffe has admitted that negotiating with the Glazer family is difficult, as the British billionaire attempts to win the race to complete a takeover of Manchester United.
The 70-year-old remains in the running to buy the Red Devils, but it is understood that Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani is currently in pole position to complete a takeover.
Ratcliffe is only believed to be looking for a controlling stake of the club at this moment in time, with a full takeover potentially occurring after three years, but Sheikh Jassim wants 100% of the club, with the Qatari banker widely expected to be named as the preferred bidder.
In extracts from a book 'Grit, Rigour & Humour: The INEOS Story', the British billionaire has conceded that it is difficult to deal with the Glazers but branded them all "charming".
"We went to see them and they were charming. They [Avram, Joel, Kevin, Bryan, Darcie and Edward, children of the late Malcolm Glazer] 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," as quoted by The Times.
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Ratcliffe has also revealed that he previously attempted to invest into La Liga giants Barcelona.
"We had an extremely interesting conversation," the book reads, with Ratcliffe revealing that he urged president Joan Laporta not to sell off the club's assets.
"We told them, "Don't do it, guys - we'll put in two or three billion, renovate the Nou Camp and have 50% ownership - and sign a deed to say we'd never sell.
"Our interest was in football alone, not making money. I think it would have worked well. We talked about it but, in the end, they didn't think they could go to the fans with it.
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"The road they are going down is a disaster. We tried to point that out and they said, 'We know, but...' They are all short-termers [Barcelona regimes] because the president comes in, does it for five years and hands the mess over to someone else.
"They have now sold a chunk of the TV rights, and merchandising rights, for the next 25 years. They've sold them to American hedge funds. So they've got this big slug of cash, which they can now... waste.
"But if you looked at top football clubs - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Manchester City and so on - they had roughly similar budgets: say £800m for the sake of argument. Because of what Barcelona had done, theirs would be more like £500m.
"That's why we told them not to do it. But they said no, and now we've got that out of our system, we can concentrate on Nice."
Ratcliffe also attempted to purchase Chelsea last April, allegedly making a formal bid, but the billionaire was ultimately unsuccessful.
Matt Law
