Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s improved bid to buy Manchester United is IN

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s improved bid to buy Manchester United is now IN, confirm INEOS after soft deadline passed on Wednesday night without an offer, with rival Qatar bid expected to follow in the next 24 hours

  • The INEOS billionaire submitted his second bid to takeover the club on Thursday
  • Sir Jim Ratcliffe revised offer comes ahead of that from the Qatari camp
  • Fears have begun to grow that the Glazers will not part ways with the club 

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s revised bid to buy Manchester United was finally submitted to the club on Thursday night.

Britain’s richest man and his Qatari rivals were expected to put in their new offers before Wednesday night’s 9pm soft deadline set by the Raine Group, who are handling the proposed sale, but no revised offers were received despite contrary claims from representatives of both bids.

The Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani group are expected to submit their bid in the next 24 hours.

A spokesperson from INEOS told Sportsmail: ‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS can confirm we have submitted a revised bid.’

Both groups visited Manchester last week for tours of Old Trafford and Carrington and are thought to have needed extra hours to finalise their second bids.

INEOS CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe has submitted his second – and revised – bid for Manchester United 

Qatar-based group and Sir Jim Ratcliffe needed more time to process bids for Manchester United

Qatar-based group and Sir Jim Ratcliffe needed more time to process bids for Manchester United

It's unclear whether owners, the Glazer family, will seek a full sale or take a minority offer

Both groups believe they are the only two keen on fully buying the club, which will do little to drive up the price to a level at which the current owners, the Glazers, would be happy to sell

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani's second bid for the club was expected to land on Friday

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani’s second bid for the club was expected to land on Friday 

Meanwhile, Elliott Investment Management, the former owners of AC Milan who had offered funding to potential bidders, have now lodged their own proposal for a minority stake.

They were one of a number of groups which were given presentations in Manchester and were so impressed that they decided to make their own offer.

It remains to be seen whether the Glazers will seek a full sale or take a minority offer, such as that now made by Elliott.

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