Jim Ratcliffe wants to buy Manchester United, but it does not look likely (Picture: Getty Images)

Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, is interested in buying Manchester United but says it is not going to happen as the Glazer family do not want to sell the club.

The INEOS billionaire registered his interest in buying the Red Devils earlier this year, after also lodging a bid to buy Chelsea when the Blues were for sale from Roman Abramovich.

However, his interest in United was more profound as he grew up as a Red Devils fan and the Old Trafford support were thrilled by his interest in the club.

The interest is indeed there, but he has explained that any move seems very unlikely as the current owners are not keen on selling at all and Ratcliffe will move on to other ventures as a result.

‘Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family, whom I have met,’ Ratcliffe told the Financial Times. ‘I’ve met Joel [Glazer] and Avram [Glazer] and they are the nicest people, I have to say.

‘They are proper gentlemen, really nice people, and they don’t want to sell it. It’s owned by the six children of the father and they don’t want to sell it.

‘If it had been for sale in the summer, yes, we would have probably had a go following on from the Chelsea thing but we can’t sit around hoping that one day Manchester United will become available.’

Ratcliffe was also happy to comment on how United have performed on the pitch, adding: ‘The answer about the performance of Manchester United is a simple one/ The biggest correlation in success in football is money, without question. It’s not the only correlation because you’ve got outliers like Brighton. But if you’ve got the highest revenues, you can afford the best players and play the best football.

‘Manchester United was one of those top three clubs with Barcelona and Real Madrid. A few more have joined that club with Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City. Liverpool are a little bit closer.

‘But Manchester United are not playing in that league of those other teams at the moment and haven’t done for quite some years since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down.

‘So they’re not firing on all cylinders, that’s my point on performance.’

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Britain’s richest man is a Man Utd fan.