Sheffield United takeover delay explained as owner puts brakes on £100m deal

Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah is holding up the sale of the Blades by refusing to sign off on the £100million takeover.

Americans Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy have reached full agreement with the EFL to buy United and it is understood the last person standing in the way of the deal is Prince Abdullah. Multi-millionaires Rosen and Eltoukhy do not need any partners to inject more money and their consortium has the capital to complete the deal.

Reports claiming they need another partner are wide of the mark and their bid is fully funded. Ohio-based financier Rosen, who is co-founder and chairman of Resilience Capital Partners, and Eltoukhy have drawn up a plan to take the club forward and bring some much-needed stability after United were docked two points for financial irregularities.

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They plan to make funds available to boss Chris Wilder, who began reshaping the club in the summer, should he identify any players in January to boost their promotion push. The Blades are level with at the top of the Championship and Rosen and Eltoukhy feel the clock is ticking on them helping him.

Rosen and California-based Eltoukhy, who is co-founder and CEO of Guardant Health, do not understand why Prince Abdullah is holding up the deal when the Saudi has been searching for a buyer for a long time. Prince Abdullah risks jeopardising all the hard work Wilder is doing in spite of all the boardroom uncertainty when last season the Blades posted the third worst campaign in history with just 16 points.

Rosen and Eltoukhy have shown their commitment to United and they were guests of chief executive Stephen Bettis at this month’s Steel City derby win over Sheffield Wednesday. Marvel film director Joe Russo was also at the match at Bramall Lane, but he it is understood he is not part of the consortium and instead he was supporting his friend Rosen.

Prince Abdullah bought a 50 per cent stake in United in 2013 when they were in League One. He bought full control six years later from Kevin McCabe after a bitter legal battle in the High Court.

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