Sheikh Jassim to make second bid for United

Sheikh Jassim will make a second indicative bid to buy Manchester United ahead of tonight’s 9pm deadline.

Representatives of the Qatari businessman were at Old Trafford and the club’s Carrington training ground last Thursday to hold more talks and receive further information to help them conduct their due diligence.

That work to go through United’s commercial arrangements continues but the PA news agency understands a second bid to buy full control of the club will be submitted on Wednesday.

Thursday’s meetings went on for 10 hours and were described as positive and constructive by sources close to Sheikh Jassim. They remain confident their bid is the best one for the club, the fans and the city of Manchester as a whole.

Sky Sports News has reported that more than five bids will be submitted by the Wednesday deadline, and potentially as many as eight.

Only Sheikh Jassim and INEOS have publicly declared their interest in buying the club, which the Glazer family who currently own it are reported to value at £6billion.

INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe told the Wall Street Journal he would not pay a “stupid” price for United, the club he supported as a child.

He said: “How do you decide the price of a painting? How do you decide the price of a house? It’s not related to how much it cost to build or how much it cost to paint.

“What you don’t want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently.”

However, Ratcliffe, who already owns French club Nice, said his interest in United would be “purely in winning things”, calling the club a “community asset”.

INEOS representatives, including Ratcliffe himself, visited United last Friday.

Sheikh Jassim did not attend last Thursday’s meetings but was represented by Shahzad Shahbaz, the president of the Sheikh’s newly-formed Nine Two Foundation, along with the Sheikh’s personal advisor Fady Bakhos.

Sam Powers and Yasir Shah from Bank of America were part of the delegation, along with lawyers from Macfarlanes and retail estate experts.