Sheikh Jassim drops new Man Utd offer and sets firm deadline

Manchester United have received the latest takeover bid from Qatari Sheikh Jassim and he's given the Glazer family a deadline of his own.

The process of the American owners selling United has been dragging on for months since they announced they were looking into letting go of the club.

Gary Neville has previously criticised the much maligned owners for not making a decision on a preferred bidder and stopping them moving on.

It has long been seen a race between the Middle Eastern Sheikh and Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, with the two parties competing over numerous rounds of bidding.

Reports have claimed that Jassim was shocked to find that the Americans upped their asking price from £5.2 billion to £6 billion during the process.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire certainly wouldn't have been as stunned by that news, suggesting the delay in it all is down to Avram and Joel Glazer trying to extract as much money as humanly possible.

According to the Daily Mail, the Sheikh has now made one final take it or leave it bid directly to the Glazer family as he aims to be the winner of the long protracted sale.

He has told the would be sellers that his bid can be negotiated until Friday but after that there will be no further negotiations.

Avram Glazer was in attendance at the FA Cup final. Image: Alamy

The report does claim that the new offer is improved on what was previously offered for complete control but does still sit below the £6 billion mark.

Many believe that it is too much to ask for a club that also requires a lot of money in order to get it back up to spec with their rivals, specifically on the stadium and training facilities.

Nice owner Ratcliffe was expected to be the front runner to be named as preferred bidder especially as there is scope for the Glazers to be still involved as minority owners.

Initially the reports were that the Glazers hoped to sell in the first financial quarter of the year and the most recent round of bidding had a deadline of April 28th.

United's plans for the summer are no doubt being hampered by the delay in deciding who will own the club at the beginning of next season.

The team still requires a lot of work despite Erik ten Hag leading them to a third place finish and two cup finals, winning the Carabao Cup.

Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Football, Qatar

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

@Sidler28