Curious moment, Avram Glazer gives gift after purchasing Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Avram Glazer gifted a Manchester United shirt to leading cricketer Shaheen Afridi and offered him a visit to Old Trafford after attending a cricket game in Dubai. The Glazer family recently sold 25 per cent of shares at Old Trafford to billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who has gained control of football operations as part of the deal.

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Ratcliffe's bid of around £1.25billion was made official before Christmas and Joel and Avram Glazer released a joint statement in which they said they were 'delighted' with the deal. The Americans also reiterated their commitment to 'delivering success' at the club. However, many feel Ratcliffe's acquisition of a minority stake at United signals the beginning of the end for the Glazers in Manchester, following their disastrous 18 years as majority shareholders.

Their long-term future at the club remains uncertain, but Avram Glazer proudly handed over a United shirt as a gift when catching up with cricketer Shaheen Afridi on Thursday night. Afridi is the current captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in the T20I format and he also plays for the Desert Vipers, who are owned by the Glazer family. Avram Glazer spoke to Afridi after the Vipers' most recent match and when discussing sport, he said: "You need to be good, you need to be healthy and you need to be lucky."

He preceded to hand Afridi a gift and added: "It was a good game and I'm also going to give you this, it's a jersey for Manchester United. If you ever want to come to Old Trafford for a match there, we would love to have you there. Or an American football game, if you watch that, so should we get a picture." The Glazers added the Desert Vipers to their sporting portfolio in December 2021, which means they now own a cricket franchise, United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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Little references

The Desert Vipers are based in the United Arab Emirates and Avram Glazer said after that takeover of the cricket team: “I am very excited to be a part of UAE T20 at its formation. "UAE T20 promises to be a world-class event that will be transformative to the growth of cricket in the Emirates.” The footage of Avram Glazer talking to Afridi represents his first words in public since making a statement after Ratcliffe's investment into United.