Sheikh Jassim set to submit second bid for Manchester United before deadline

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani will make a second bid to buy Manchester United before Wednesday’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 due diligence.

That work continues but it is understood that a second bid to take full control of the club will be submitted on Wednesday. Thursday’s meetings lasted for 10 hours and were described as positive and constructive by sources close to Sheikh Jassim.

There have been reports 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, who are valued at £6bn by the Glazer family.

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

Ineos representatives including Ratcliffe visited the club last Friday.

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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