Man Utd takeover in chaos as Qataris withdraw delayed-deadline bid and up to eight mystery offers pending

MANCHESTER UNITED’s takeover battle has been thrown into chaos after a late change to the deadline from 9pm last night.

Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani on Wednesday made an improved world-record bid of around £5billion to buy the Premier League giants from the Glazer family.

2

2

But he WITHdrew that after deal organizers and US financier Raine Group later extended the deadline by 48 hours and are now planning a revised offer.

Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe was also willing to make his offer – also around £5billion – before 9pm but delayed it after Raine’s extension.

Raine has now indicated that there could be up to EIGHT bids by tomorrow’s new deadline at 9pm.

Only one of them, US hedge fund Elliott Management, has spoken out, while the Qatar Sheikh and the British Knight are still the leading contenders.

Their latest bids will break the record £3.75 billion fee for the Denver Broncos when the NFL franchise was sold last summer.

But it remains to be seen whether any of the offers will persuade the Glazers – who have set a valuation of £6bn – to sell.

Unlike Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals group Ineos, which is looking to buy out the Glazers’ 69 percent stake, and Sheikh Jassim, which is eyeing a full takeover, Elliott is merely trying to funnel funds to potential bidders.

It is possible that other interested parties are also trying to provide funding rather than actually taking over the club.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST ONLINE CASINOS FOR 2023

But giving bidders an extra 48 hours suggests Raine believes they have real options.

However, it’s understood the two lead bidders still have doubts about whether the Glazers will sell if their whopping valuation isn’t met.

United’s share price on the New York Stock Exchange rose more than four percent in early trading yesterday to hit a “market cap” of £3.33 billion.

As Sunsport revealed earlier this month, one option for the Glazers is to use outside funding to spin off the club’s commercial and merchandising arm to another arm of the club, or simply take United off the market.