Beckham has not had any official association with United since leaving the club in 2003.
David Beckham has expressed his interest in returning to Manchester United as an ambassador if the club’s ownership changes.
The Daily Mail claimed on Thursday that a UAE group was interested in acquiring the 13-time Premier League winners.
The same article said that the club’s present owners, the Glazer family, would require more than £5 billion to complete a comprehensive sale.
The UAE’s interest was announced following assertions by Saudi sports chief Turki Alalshikh that United takeover talks were ‘in an advanced stage with a new investor’.
Alalshikh then stated that the conversations did not include himself or anyone else from Saudi Arabia.
British businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a minority 27.7% stake in United from the Glazer family in December 2023, which has since been expanded to 28.9%.
The ownership arrangement included a ‘drag-along’ clause that allowed the Glazers to force Ratcliffe to sell all of his approximately 50 million holdings beginning in August 2025 if they offered him £26 per share.
Ratcliffe thwarted attempts by Qatari investor Sheikh Jassim to buy United after the Glazers began to consider strategic options in 2022.
Jassim sought a complete takeover of the club, with ESPN saying that if he reached an arrangement with the Glazers, he intended to place United legends in ‘prominent roles’.
The UAE consortium appears to have similar ideas, with the Daily Mail reporting that the group would contact former United players to serve as club ambassadors if they were successful in their takeover bid.
Gary Neville was part of a group that drew up designs for United’s new 100,000-seater stadium earlier this year, while Darren Fletcher is the under-18 team’s head coach.
Beckham, who co-owns Salford City and the MLS franchise Inter Miami, is one former United player who has never been tempted to return to Old Trafford in any official capacity.
Beckham served as a football ambassador for Qatar for the 2022 World Cup after signing a £125 million contract.
He was questioned by The Athletic in 2023, despite Sheikh Jassim’s interest in United, whether he would be tempted to return to his former club if approached.
“I have a lot going on here [in Miami] at the moment, and my focus has purely been on Miami and everything that goes on in my business,” according to him.
“But I have not been approached, and any future engagement with Manchester United would mean everything to me. But who knows.
“We’ll see what occurs in the coming weeks or months. Hopefully, a decision is made, and if I’m involved in any way… if not, I’ll be a United fan and do what all the other fans do: show up and cheer on our club.”
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