After what seems like an absolute age, it would appear that the Man United takeover is hurtling towards its conclusion.
Supporters of the Red Devils have been waiting for some while now to see if the Glazer family intend to stay in charge of the club or whether they would sell it to either Sheikh Jassim or Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Both bids are believed to be quite different with Sheikh Jassim wanting to own 100 percent of the club and Sir Jim likely to allow the Glazer’s to stay on in some capacity given that it’s believed he is only bidding for 59 percent.
Although there is still no official word as to what is going to happen, The Athletic (subscription required) note some of what has been happening behind the scenes and it would suggest a favourite is beginning to emerge for the strangest of reasons.
Right the way through the entire process including to date, Sheikh Jassim has, apparently, not had any direct contact with the Glazer family or the Raine Group who are conducting the sale on behalf of the Glazer’s, and that lack of dialogue is being seen as ‘notable’ say The Athletic.
He has sent representatives to do his bidding of course, however, one might’ve expected, given how much money is in play, that Sheikh Jassim would have entered into discussions himself at some point.
If that were to be one of the reasons why Sir Jim ends up being the preferred bidder too, the Qatari delegation will be kicking themselves, whatever the reasons Sheikh Jassim has for staying in the background.