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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Jack Flintham

Manchester United takeover latest - Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim allowed 'deadline extension'

Wednesday was a big day for Manchester United after the deadline passed for bids to be submitted to buy the club.

Last week, the Qatari bid which is led by Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS met with United officials to discuss the running of the club and potential approaches to the Glazer family. This was ahead of the 9pm deadline on Wednesday, March 22.

However, according to widespread reports, no bids were received for the Reds. Instead, it appears that both Jassim and Ratcliffe were handed deadline extensions to put together their revised proposals.

ALSO READ: United takeover news LIVE

MEN Sport has taken a look at what the papers are saying this Thursday morning ahead of another day of takeover talk.

Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim handed extensions

It is reported that Ratcliffe and Jassim have been handed extensions to the Wednesday deadline. They claim that after it emerged that neither party had submitted bids to buy the Reds, panic began to set in among United fans.

But, it is understood that both parties were allowed to mull over their bids and that they are expected to launch their proposals on Thursday or Friday instead.

Glazers could 'up the price' for United

Elsewhere, reports in The Athletic claim that the £6bn asking price that has commonly been referred to as the benchmark for bids may be lower than what the Glazer family are actually asking for. They claim that a figure of £8bn is perhaps closer to the owners' estimations.

They add that this figure is deemed to be a huge sum even for the likes of Ratcliffe and Jassim. This could also explain why the deadline was extended for both bidders.

United set for 'world-record' bids

According to Mike Keegan at the Daily Mail, Ratcliffe's and Sheikh Jassim's bids are around the £5bn mark. Should this be true, they would break the world record for the biggest bids for a sports club which currently stands at £3.75bn for NFL side Denver Broncos.

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