Neither *need* to, of course.

In the case of Liverpool, it simply looks like the owners would like to try and maximize a tidy profit by selling near enough to their recent highs in terms of performance. Probably move onto another sporting venture to try and repeat the process, too.

With United, the owners are probably thinking instead of just collecting dividends cheques on all the debt they've been amassing United since buying, they may as well sell off for a huge profit (considering they only spent $250mil if their own money). They aren't stupid, and know while United's buying value will always command a high price, it will most likely only decrease in coming seasons if they can't fix the problems at the club.....which they don't seem inclined to do.