British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe will get his hands on "the one thing he doesn't have" if his proposed Manchester United takeover goes through.
Still competing against rival bidder Sheikh Jassim for control at Old Trafford and beyond, Sir Jim is claimed to be a frontrunner to purchase United from the much-maligned Glazer family. Developing reports this week certainly add up to that eventuality.
According to the PA agency, Sheikh Jassim has submitted a fifth offer for the club, but the patience of his bidding team is said to be "wearing increasingly thin" as they set their own Friday deadline to make further headway. As for Sir Jim, meanwhile, reports from The Express suggest he's now in the "final stages" with his proposal.
Either way, it has taken considerable time to get to that point. Sir Jim and Sheikh Jassim went public with interest four months ago now after the Glazer family outlined their intention to sell-up or at least attract fresh investment. That announcement - in November - came only weeks after Sir Jim was pressed on his hopes to buy the club when it was, seemingly, not being readied for sale.
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Naturally, given the red tape involved, Sir Jim has been tight-lipped since going public with his bid. However, with such strong links to the Manchester area, Failsworth-born United supporter Ratcliffe, 70, was clear from the outset about what assuming control might mean for him and his sporting enterprise - as well as declaring his desire to acquire a Premier League club.
Speaking at an event which was hosted by The Financial Times in association with his company, INEOS, in October last year, Sir Jim said: "Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family, whom I have met. I've met Joel and Avram and they are the nicest people, I have to say, they are proper gentlemen.
"They don't want to sell it. It's owned by the six children of the father and they don't want to sell it.
"If it had been for sale in the summer then, yes, we would have probably had a go following on from the Chelsea thing, but we can't sit around hoping that one day Manchester United will become available. We have an exciting sporting franchise, but the one thing we don't have is a Premier [League] team.
"The most popular sport in the world is football, it's the sport we were brought up with, it's the one most close to us. We really should have an asset in the sporting franchise."
Currently under the INEOS umbrella are French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice, an affiliation to the Mercedes-AMG formula one team and partnerships with high-fliers in more sporting fields. As the man himself indicates, though, getting his hands on United would be the golden ticket, and a dream come true.
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