Prospective buyers of Manchester United have been given a deadline of 21:00 GMT on Wednesday to submit revised bids for the club, as the takeover process gathers pace.
While the strictness of the deadline and the emergence of other bidders are uncertain, reports has learned that United officials have held high-level meetings with eight different potential investors over a 10-day period.
Several of these investors are expected to make formal offers, raising the possibility of a “preferred bidder” being declared soon.
The two publicly-declared bids, from Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, are expected to be improved and more detailed. However, their offers are currently believed to be lower than the club’s £5-6bn valuation set by the Glazer family.
Ineos is seeking to buy the Glazers’ shareholding of around 69%, while the Qataris want to acquire the entire club.
It remains to be seen whether any bidder will be able to persuade the Glazers to sell.
Anothet option is the Americans may opt to keep the club and sell a minority stake to US hedge fund Elliott Investment Management, especially with United’s recent improvement under manager Erik ten Hag.