UEFA's decision, which would help Ratcliffe become United's new owner, surprises everyone

The issue of the sale of the club remains unresolved, with the Glazers still undecided, although contenders Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim Al Thani have already made their bids and plans for the club known, but a decision by UEFA could determine who gets to keep Manchester United.

UEFA has talked a lot about multi-ownership, a model that has been growing in recent years and has become increasingly popular and interesting for team owners, and a decision by the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) could be a starting point for Jim Ratcliffe's aspirations to take Manchester United.

This is because the UEFA body would allow six multi-owned clubs to participate in European competitions, as Ratcliffe is already the current owner of French club Nice, so if his bid succeeds, he would have no problem in retaining control of United and Nice, should both teams qualify for Europe next season; as the French team will not participate in Europe this season due to their disappointing ninth place finish. 

This undoubtedly opens the door to the possible arrival of Ratcliffe as Manchester United's new owner, who so far in a drastic change has become the favourite over Sheikh Jassim.  

CFCB restrictions on multi-ownership clubs

During this season, clubs will not be able to transfer or loan players to each other, nor will they be able to have any kind of cooperation, technical or commercial agreements, nor will they be able to share the same database or the same recruiters, in order to maintain the rules of the increasingly common multi-ownership.