Sheikh Jassim delivered a clear promise to Manchester United supporters when first outlining his dream to buy the Premier League giants - but that hugely-inviting statement might now be days away from crumbling.
It has been a whirlwind few months off the pitch at Old Trafford as Erik ten Hag and his improved team continue to make great strides on it. With improved backing to come, it remains anyone's guess how far the Dutchman can take his men after finishing third in the Premier League and ending the club's trophy hoodoo in his first season.
While proposed summer transfers have got people talking, signing Harry Kane, Mason Mount or whoever else Ten Hag might want to add to his squad is not the hot-topic. Of course, supporters continue to hope that their club will be prised away from the much-maligned Glazer family soon enough.
It was November when they initially confirmed plans to sell up or at least attract new investment. Fast forward to February and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim - in addition to British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe with his INEOS company - went public with his interest to meet a soft deadline set out by the Americans.
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Number-crunching and official bids followed. The same two parties remain frontrunners to take over.
However, developing reports from the PA news agency - which claim Sheikh Jassim has submitted his fifth offer for United - also come with an alarm bell for supporters backing that party. Reports suggest that the Qatari's bidding team have set Friday as a deadline to make headway and their patience is said to be 'wearing increasingly thin'.
If they do pull the plug, so too will end the grand vision Sheikh Jassim had on and off the field. But when one door closes another one opens, as the saying goes.
Outlining his plans for United upon first registering his interest, the Qatari banker said: "The vision for the bid is for Manchester United Football Club to be renowned for footballing excellence, and regarded as the greatest football club in the world."
Should he be successful in his own approach, Sir Jim might well have similar ambitions for United moving forward, but that comment which first started to galvanise hope among the fan base that the Glazer family might finally be selling is, potentially, 72 hours away from being another false dawn.
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