"People close to the negotiations..." - Seismic update given on Qatar bid for Man Utd with new offer expected

The Qatar-based bid for Manchester United is ready to table a new offer close to the asking price demanded for the club by the Glazer family, according to a new report.

The bid, which has been spearheaded by Sheikh Jassim through his Nine Two foundation, has already submitted one offer for the club before the initial soft deadline last month.

But a second bid is yet to be confirmed, with Sky Sports claiming that Sheikh Jassim, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, asked for extensions before Wednesday's 9pm deadline.

Those extensions were granted, and the Ratcliffe/Ineos ticket announced they had sent through a fresh bid for United on Thursday.

In a short statement, an Ineos spokesperson said (via The Independent): "Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos can confirm we have submitted a revised bid."

Even though it has not officially been confirmed, Sheikh Jassim is expected to follow suit - and Sportico has reported an intriguing detail about the latest expected proposal from Qatar.

Qatar bid for Man Utd update

In an article published on Friday, Sportico's Asli Petit wrote: "[Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad] Al Thani's most recent bid for the team appears to be in the ballpark of £6 billion ($7.3 billion), the amount the Glazer family is asking for the 145-year-old team, said the people [close to negotiations].

"They added that Al Thani, the president of the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), had two more rounds of meetings with the Glazers last week."

The report also claims that Ratcliffe's revised bid, as per the same sources, was not able to match Sheikh Jassim's offer.

Meanwhile, Matt Dickinson of The Times reported on Friday that people with knowledge of the Qatar-based bid believe that the offer will win if the key factor in a successful takeover is based around Monday.

He wrote: "As one person with knowledge of that bid put it: 'They are working on instruction not to come back without a deal.'

"The group know that if it is an issue of money then there is no way they should be beaten."