Sir Jim Ratcliffe may have taken the lead in the race to buy Manchester United after his third bid valued the club higher than his main rival, Sheikh Jassim.
The takeover has entered a critical phase after passing the third and final deadline for offers on Friday at 10pm. Both Ratcliffe and his INEOS group and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and his Qatari Nine Two Foundation submitted revised offers to Raine Group, the US bank overseeing the process for the Glazer family.
Sheikh Jassim is bidding to buy 100 per cent of the Premier League club, while Ratcliffe’s group are offering to take over the Glazers’ controlling 69 per cent stake. Throughout the past weeks, Sheikh Jassim’s group has been confident of beating the competition, but a spanner has now been thrown into the works.