Featured Image Credit: Alamy & PA
Topics: Manchester United, Football, Premier League
Rory O'Callaghan
Topics: Manchester United, Football, Premier League
A rare new picture of Manchester United bidder Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani has been posted on social media by a family member who warned him against buying the Premier League club.
Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim is believed to be the front-runner to buy the club from the Glazers, who first put it up for sale back in November.
Sheikh Jassim has submitted several bids for United through his Nine Two Foundation, as have INEOS – the company owned by Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
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Speculation is growing that the Qatari has been successful with his fifth and final offer, which is understood to be worth around $6.5bn (£5.2bn) – with an additional $1bn (around £800m) of investment in the club also pledged.
Reports last week claimed that United are negotiating exclusivity with Sheikh Jassim.
However, the BBC claim that exclusivity had not yet been granted by Raine - the banking group handling the sale on behalf of the Glazers - and that talks are continuing with interested parties.
Sheikh Jassim has kept a low profile during the sale process and chose not to visit Old Trafford to hold face-to-face talks with Raine, unlike Ratcliffe.
Instead, he sent a delegation to the Premier League club on his behalf.
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"Representatives for Sheikh Jassim say he is not someone who wants to be in the public eye - the handful of photographs of him available online are evidence of this - and it would have felt presumptuous to make himself visible," The Athletic reported recently.
New image of Sheikh Jassim emerges
A new image has emerged on social media of Sheikh Jassim, who is the third son of former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.
His father shared a picture of Sheikh Jassim and his brothers to his Instagram account, captioning the image: "With the boys Jassim, Saheem bin Khalid and Fahad."
Sheikh Hamad has previously claimed that any takeover of United would be seen as an investment rather than a means to advertise Qatar.
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Earlier this year, he expressed his scepticism over the bid, issuing a warning to his son over the investment.
In an interview that was conducted before his son's bid was made official and published by Bloomberg (via Manchester Evening News), Sheikh Hamad said: "I am not a football fan. I don't like this investment.
"Maybe it will work well. But you know, some of my sons like this, they always discuss it with me. They're pushing hard. This isn't my specialty.
"Let me put it like this: I am an investor. If it will one day be a good investment, I will think about it.
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"I will not look at it as something you do just as an advertisement."