British billionaire Ratcliffe is close to reaching a 1.3 1.3 billion deal with the Glazers, with his company INEOS buying a 25 per cent stake in United. But Ratcliffe's petrochemical company already has France's Nice, creating problems for the Red Devils' hopes of playing in the Champions League.

Under current UEFA "multi-club ownership" rules, the only way both United and Nice can play in Europe next season is if either team is automatically eligible for the Champions League group stage. League and another enter the Conference League directly.

UEFA has made it clear that teams owned by a single owner must prevent confrontation in a single title race, as set out in Article 5.02 of UEFA regulations.If each team finishes in the respective Champions League, the team that finishes higher than the other two will advance to the knockout stages, while the other will be banned from the European Cup. However, if they finish in the same position, United will get a place because England are higher than the French league in UEFA.