Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plan to sell his stake in Nice is becoming more realistic. The club were put up for sale last May with a valuation of £200million, the asking price reportedly came down significantly in January, and interested buyers have now emerged. On the pitch, Nice are also heading toward a grim finish, sitting 15th with 31 points, eight points clear of the relegation zone, with two Ligue 1 fixtures remaining.

Why the Nice deal now looks more likely

Ratcliffe has not hidden his view of the club either. Speaking to talkSPORT, he said he did not “particularly enjoy” watching Nice because “the level of football is not high enough” to get him “excited”. That is a fairly blunt line, and it fits the direction of travel around the deal.

The football side has not helped the sale case. Nice finished 4th last season under Franck Haise, so the current position is a step backwards, not a continuation of progress. They are outside the bottom three, but 15th with two matches left is not the sort of platform that encourages patience from a would-be owner looking for value.

The price movement matters too. A club placed on the market at £200million and then re-priced lower in January is already a different proposition for buyers. Add in the emergence of interested parties, and the idea of Ratcliffe moving on looks less speculative than it did a few months ago.

United’s rise sharpens the contrast

The other side of Ratcliffe’s football portfolio is in a much better place. Manchester United secured Champions League qualification with a 3-2 win over Liverpool on Sunday, which changes the mood around the group he owns a stake in.

That does not mean Nice are gone from the picture or that a sale is done. It does mean the momentum is sitting with the club that has just qualified for the Champions League, not the one limping through the final two rounds of Ligue 1. If Ratcliffe is deciding where the energy should go next, the contrast is obvious enough. The sale talk around Nice feels more credible because the price has softened, the buyers have appeared, and the football has not given anyone much reason to wait.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →