Sheikh Jassim and Jim Ratcliffe on Man. Utd bidding

Man united club has set a deadline on Wednesday night for interested parties to submit their second bid for the purchase of the club from the Glazers. Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and INEOS founder and chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe are front runners battling to buy the club.

United are one of the sides being connected with a summer move for Ruben Neves.

Football surroundings claims both United and Liverpool currently lead Barcelona in the race to sign the Portuguese midfielder this summer.

United are looking to sign a new midfielder at the end of the season in the transfers. The Glazer family will hope to sell United by the start of the summer if they decide to go ahead with a full sale of the club.

Sheikh Jassim on Man. Utd Bidding

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani offered £5.5billion to buy Man. Utd in an effort to rival Sir Jim Ratcliffe out from the race.

It is claimed that while Ratcliffe is understood to have increased his bid for United, he is not thought to have gone as high as £5.5bn, which could see the Qataris secure the sale.

There is not much time left for prospective bidders to make their offers to buy United.

Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe have been the only two figures to go public with their interest in the club and will need to submit their revised bids for the club by 9pm tonight.

It is likely there will be other proposals received before the deadline, with some reports suggesting there could be more than five bids submitted and potentially as many as eight

Jim Ratcliffe on Man. Utd Bidding

Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he will not pay a ‘stupid price’ to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family, having met club chiefs for takeover talks last week.

The INEOS founder and chairman visited Old Trafford and United’s training ground on Friday – the day after Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani’s delegates also spent the day in Manchester for talks.

Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim both submitted bids to buy United in February and the process of a possible sale of the club has since moved into its next phase.

While the initial offers made by interested parties are thought to have fallen short of the Glazers’ reported £6bn valuation, Ratcliffe speaking to the Wall Street Journal said he would not part with a figure that he would regret in the future.

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

Ratcliffe a lifelong United supporter claimed his motivation for wanting to purchase United comes from a desire for success on the pitch with the club. He added: “Our interest in that club would be purely in winning things.”

The British billionaire, 70, remains locked in a battle with Al Thani and up to six other interested parties as they approach Wednesday’s 9pm deadline for fresh bids. Ratcliffe, through his petrochemical company, INEOS, and the Qatari banker are both believed to have made initial offers worth around £4.5billion in February, but current owners the Glazer family are holding out for a world-record sale amid their £6bn asking price.

The British businessman also stated he regarded United as a “community asset” rather than a financial one suggesting that his pursuit of the Reds was different when compared to other business investments. “That in a sense goes without saying because sport is emotional,” Ratcliffe said.

Although it’s unknown whether any are involved in the 70-year-old’s bid, the banks would reportedly be prepared to back a takeover offer through bonds and loans to cover United’s existing debt, which currently stands at just below £515million. Ratcliffe has already made it clear to the Glazers that he won’t pay “stupid” money to buy the club who he’s supported since his childhood.

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