Manchester United's takeover continues to progress as we enter into the Easter weekend.
As things stand three parties have so far come forward to declare their interest in buying United from the Glazer family. Qatar's Sheikh Jassim, INEOS' Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus.
The Premier League recently announced changes to their owners and directors test which affects which people can takeover the running of a football club. Some had suggested that the alterations would lead to trouble for Jassim, however he has received some good news from a football finance expert.
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Jassim receives 'big news'
Speaking to Football Insider, football finance expert Kieran Maguire has claimed that the changes the Premier League have made to the owners and directors test will not affect Jassim's bid to takeover United. He said: "As far as the changes to the owners and directors test, that have been agreed upon at the latest Premier League meeting, this will have zero impact in relation to a potential takeover of Man United.
"The changes don’t impact Sheikh Jassim or anyone from Saudi Arabia or other Middle Eastern states. Therefore, this is big news for Man United fans who are looking forward to the possibility of being owned by Sheikh Jassim.
"In terms of the proposals, there are going to be relatively few people who could previously buy a Premier League club that now can’t because of these changes."
Glazers 'ready to take next step'
The Telegraph reports that the Glazer family are planning to delve deeper into offers for Manchester United as they invite the leading bid contenders for negotiations in the coming days. Fears the controversial owners may now be planning to retain overall control have been raised by well-connected figures in European football.
However, sources within United insist the Glazers remain open-minded and will continue pursuing all available options. One major factor is likely to be to establish the absolute top price that Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe are willing to pay for an outright sale.
Offers of £5 billion are believed to have been tabled already for a deal which would obliterate the record purchase of a sports team following the sale of the Denver Broncos American football franchise for £3.8 billion last year.
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