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Topics: Manchester United, Football, Premier League
Ryan Sidle
Qatari billionaire Sheikh Jassim has reportedly made a world record bid to takeover Manchester United, as the third round of bidding has finished.
According to Sky Sports, the 63-year-old has made a bid of £5 billion in order to take complete control of the club from the Glazer family.
The report says that the Qatari, who was part of a third round of bidding along with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, made his bid just minutes before the 10pm deadline on Friday night.
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"The bid went in very close to the deadline, worth just over £5bn," chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol told Sky Sports News.
"Significantly, as well as giving that money to the Glazers, Sheikh Jassim says there is another big pot of financing available to strengthen the squad, improve the infrastructure including the stadium, and to invest in the local community.
"People close to the Sheikh have been telling me they're convinced this is the best bid - there's not one that comes close to this.
"It's for 100 per cent of the club, it's debt free, and money will be made available not just to Erik Ten Hag but also for improving the infrastructure around the club; doing the kind of thing Man City have done in Manchester.
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"They believe this is the best bid, the final bid they're going to make - now it's up to the Glazers. Are they really serious about selling Man Utd with a world-record bid on the table? It's not just exceptional for them, and will see them make an awful lot of profit, but the Qataris believe it's also the best offer for the sake of the club."
The extremely unpopular Glazer family have been in charge of United since completing their own takeover in 2005, after a number of years of buying an ever growing share in the team.
There has been a number of years of success under their stewardship but most of that was down to the management of Sir Alex Ferguson.
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Fans have been protesting against them for as long as they have been in charge of the club, even when they were European champions in 2008.
That's due to the fact that they bought the club with 100s of millions of pounds worth of debt and saddled it on the 13 times Premier League winners.
They have not invested their own money in the club, despite lots of money being spent on transfers, it's all money earned by the club, and have instead taken it out through dividends, whilst interest on their loans has only grown.
Old Trafford and the Carrington training ground have also been left to fall behind the
Even the bidding process for the club has been confused by the fact that two of the family, Avram and Joel, have reportedly wanted to keep a stake in the club.
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That led to the three rounds of bidding prolonging the process, amid rumours that they would prefer minority investors to buy part of the club.
Friday's deadline reportedly didn't cover the potential of those investors and was only for Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the other outright bid.
The Nice owner, a childhood season ticket holder at United, is said to have offered the Glazers the chance to maintain a minority share with his bid.
His bid was also confirmed by Sky Sports on Friday night.