With the Glazers paying off a £220m PIK loan last month to leave United’s debt standing at £520m, speculation linking the Qatari royal family with a possible takeover at Old Trafford has gathered pace.
The Glazers have continued to insist that Manchester United is not for sale, however, and Bryan Glazer’s purchase earlier this month of the 6,432-square-foot, 53rd floor apartment in the exclusive Lucien Lagrange-designed Elysian Tower suggests that money problems are the last thing to be troubling United’s owners.
The deal is listed as the biggest in Chicago in 2010, surpassing the $8.18m paid by options trader Igor Chernomzav for a 52nd floor apartment in March.
Earlier this year, fellow United director Darcie Glazer Kassewitz purchased a $20.5m Palm Beach property with her husband, Joel Kassewitz.
Although the Glazers’ NFL team, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are currently the only one of the 32 franchises to have their home games under a TV black-out due to a failure to sell-out home fixtures, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been told he has substantial funds available for new players.