Sir Jim Ratcliffe visited Manchester United last week (Photos: Getty)

Future Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe insists he will not pay a ‘stupid price’ for the Premier League club.

The British billionaire visited Old Trafford and United’s training complex in Carrington last week and also held talks with the club.

The interest from Ratcliffe and others comes after United’s owners, the Glazer family, announced in November that they were for sale.

Ratcliffe, 70, is one of two interested parties who have publicly announced their bids to Raine, the investment bank brought in to help the club evaluate bids.

But the CEO of Ineos insists he won’t pay too much, telling the Wall Street Journal: “How do you price a painting? How do you price a house? It doesn’t depend on how much it costs to to build or how much it costs to paint.

“What you don’t want is to pay stupid prices for things because you will regret it later.”

Already owner of French club Nice, Ratcliffe added that his interest in Manchester United would be “purely to win things” and described the club as a “public good”.

United fans excited about the sale of the Glazer family (Picture: Getty)

The other party known to be interested in buying United is Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, whose delegation visited Old Trafford a day before Ratcliffe’s trip.

Manchester United are England’s biggest and most successful team with a record 20 league titles, 12 FA Cups, six League Cups and three European Cups.

The Red Devils have struggled for the most part since legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013, but appear to have changed since Erik ten Hag took over last summer when United ended their six-year drought last month.

Manchester United are currently third in the Premier League – 19 points behind Arsenal with two games remaining – aiming to win the Europa League and FA Cup after the international break.

Ten Hag confirmed he had met future United owner Ratcliffe during his visit last Friday.

Asked if he has a message for a new owner, the former Ajax manager added: “No, my job now is to focus on the game, so let’s talk about football.”