A bid for Manchester United by the Qatar Investment Authority will be made by the end of the week as they look to buy the club in its entirety, it has been claimed.
Mirror Football understands that the bid has the support of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar.
The rumoured bid will come in time to meet the deadline, imposed by the New York-based merchant bank the Raine Group, for all bids to be submitted by February 17, according to the Telegraph. The Glazers' will view this as a huge positive, amid fears earlier on this week that they would have to drastically drop their asking price.
The Americans are holding out for a figure around the £6billion mark, which is not expected to be a problem for the QIA. However, it has been reported that £4.5bn will be enough to do the trick for any potential buyer.
It remains unclear how UEFA would feel about the potential sale considering the Qatari ownership of French giants Paris Saint-Germain. There are rules against dual ownership, although the Red Bull-backed FC Salzburg and RB Leipzig have both competed in European football's top competition during the same campaign recently, showing there are ways around it.
There have been a number of high-profile figures reportedly keen on securing ownership of the Premier League's biggest club. One of those is Twitter owner Elon Musk, who is thought to be weighing up the idea of a bid before the club's deadline.
The Canadian billionaire has previosuly joked about taking the reins at Old Trafford.
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"Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome," Musk wrote on Twitter back in August during United's terrible start to the season, before playing down his comments and posting an update that read: "Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid."
Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe is also interested and already boasts experience when it comes to owning a football team given he owns Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice. A boyhood United fan, Ratcliffe confirmed last month he was plotting a bid.
Whoever is tasked with succeeding the Glazers' will have to have some cash left over after their bid to help redevelop some of the second-rate facilities both at Old Trafford and at United's Carrington training ground.
If United are to fetch the expected £4.5bn, it would make the Red Devils the most expensive sports team in the world, surpassing NFL side the Denver Broncos, who were bought for £3.7bn last year.
