Saudi denies bin Salman's bid to buy Man Utd

By Tareq Khaled

RIYADH

Saudi Arabia has denied reports that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was planning to buy Premier League giants Manchester United.

"Reports claiming that HRH the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman intends on buying Man Utd are completely false," Information Minister Turki Al-Shabaneh said on Twitter.

He said the British club held a meeting with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) to discuss sponsorship opportunity.

"No deal has been materialized," he said.

British newspaper The Sun earlier claimed that bin Salman was negotiating to take over the club for £3.8 billion.

Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family who own Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida, and competing in the National Football League.

The PIF was set up in 1971 to support projects of strategic significance to the Saudi economy.

It is the world's tenth-largest sovereign fund with $360 billion, according to the latest figures of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI).