Qatari interest in Manchester United has reportedly gone ‘very, very quiet’ in recent days amid fears that Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani is stuttering over a second takeover bid. After requesting an extension onto Wednesday’s 9pm deadline, Sheikh Jassim’s offer is yet to be submitted to the Glazer family.
The Qatari banker joined fellow leading suitor, INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, asking the Raine Group for an extension.
But while Ratcliffe’s revised bid went in on Thursday, there is still no sign of Sheikh Jassim’s improvement on his initial indicative approach, thought to be worth around £4.5billion.
And on Friday night, Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol issued a worrying update that won’t soothe concerns that a second Qatari bid won’t arrive.
He said: “I’m hearing that it has gone very quiet with the Qataris. Very, very quiet since earlier this week. Now, what does that mean?
“Should people that want Qataris to buy Manchester United be concerned? I’m not sure this evening because we’re being told two different things.
“On one hand, he’s going to bid. On the other, everything has gone quiet. Some insiders are saying they believe this is just the Qataris playing games.
“And I’m also being told that it doesn’t really matter what the Qataris do or not because this process is going to carry on with or without them.
“Obviously, if you’re selling Manchester United, you want people as rich as the Qataris to be involved in the process because they’ll either end up buying it or push up the price for others.
“But, if this bid doesn’t come in, I’m being told the process will crack on, and there will be other proposals for the Glazer family to consider.”
According to the Mail, it’s looking likely that Sheikh Jassim’s revised bid will be lodged on Saturday to conclude the second wave of offers.
Raine will then sit down with the Glazers to assess all options, and they are expected to respond to bidders within seven days.
Sheikh Jassim is the frontrunner to inherit control at Old Trafford, given his embarrassment of riches.
But the longer he takes to fine-tune his second bid, the more doubts creep in over his credentials to win the takeover race.
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