Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who reached an agreement with the Glazer family to buy 25 percent of Manchester United's shares, said on Sunday that he expects the deal to be approved by the Premier League in mid-February.

Ratcliffe went to watch United play against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday and spoke to the press ahead of the game.

"Early to mid-Feb," he said when asked when he expects the investment to be ratified. "Hopefully we don't find anything dodgy on my CV! This is the first match for me since we got here. I am very excited to be here, but I can't answer any questions really."

It cost Ratcliffe 1.3 billion pounds (about $1.66 billion) to buy United's shares. The deal was announced on December 24, 2023 after over a year of negotiations. He will form a three-person board that includes Joel Glazer and INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford once the deal is approved by the Premier League.

"When did I first come to a game? When I was a kid. Quite young. Ten or something, it is 60 years ago," Ratcliffe said. "[Paul] Scholes, [Ryan] Giggs – Eric (Cantona) probably. I can't come all the time [to games] because I have some other things. But I will come."

United held Hotspur to a draw at 2-2 on Sunday. They led twice in the game after Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford scored, but Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur tied the score soon on both occasions.

"I think it was a very intense game, a very good game," United's manager Erik ten Hag told Sky Sports after the game. "When you analyze the game, we'll be slightly disappointed because of the soft goals we conceded but it was overall OK."

United failed to win both of their past two Premier League games and are in the seventh place in the league at the moment.