Celebrated BBC journalist John Simpson has sent a Twitter message to Man United fans after reports that Mohammed bin Salman was involved with a potential Man United takeover.
He wanted to remind people that “he’s the one accused of ordering the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
A previous report had said that the ruling Salman family is worth an astonishing £850billion.
Simpson sent the tweet on Monday afternoon.
It's being reported that @ManUtd's American owners want to sell to the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. He's the one who's being accused of ordering the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
— John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) October 15, 2018
OPINION
Politics and football don’t often collide and when they do it’s never pretty. There’s a huge amount of money and prestige in football, but most Man United fans will be hoping nothing comes of this, despite the immense wealth of the Salman family. The backlash would be huge, with the current news around the possible death of Khashoggi. The Mail had claimed that Crown Prince Mohammad sees Man United as the perfect purchase but we can’t see it happening. Man United could be worth over £3billion, a sum that the ruling Saudi family could easily afford, but there would be a view that the Premier League would be seriously tainted if any such deal were to go through. The current owners, the US-based Glazers, have given no indication that they want to sell the club. They’ve had control of United since 2005. Man United have struggled this season under manager Jose Mourinho and currently sit eighth in the Premier League after eight games.