Manchester United are still locked in negotiations as their turbulent takeover talks continue – and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani remains a name at the centre of a deal that will have significant ramifications for world football.
Sheikh Jassim is one of two primary contenders in the battle to buy the Old Trafford club, rivalling British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, with the groups believing they are now the frontrunning bidders in the race.
Both parties have lodged initial bids to buy the club, thought to have been worth around £4.5billion, with any potential deal to significantly exceed the record for a sports franchise sale – currently being the £3.71bn paid for the NFL’s Denver Broncos last year.
However, both parties then missed the 9pm soft deadline on Wednesday night to submit their second bids, which were expected to top £5bn, as the increasingly arduous saga rumbles on.
Sportsmail understands new offers are likely to be made on Thursday or Friday, and that Sheikh Jassim, at this stage, remains entirely confident his bid will be successful. But who exactly is the Qatari banker, who is so confident of finally replacing the Glazer family at Manchester United?
Qatari Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani is one of the leading contenders in the race to buy Manchester United
It’s unclear whether owners, the Glazer family, will seek a full sale or take a minority offer
Who exactly is Sheikh Jassim?
Before we delve into who Sheikh Jassim is, it’s worth outlining how his bid differs from Ratcliffe’s. Primarily, while Ratcliffe is seeking to buy the 69 per cent stake owned by the Glazer family, Sheikh Jassim wants 100 per cent control of the club.
The mega-rich Qatari is the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) and is also a member of the Qatari royal family. He spent much of his youth in the United Kingdom, going to school in Dorset before studying at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.
Jassim would graduate as an officer cadet, and would go on to be a board member at one of the world’s biggest investment banks, Credit Suisse, before becoming a banker himself.
That’s where the details around Jassim become hazy. In fact, for someone who could soon possess one of the most famous faces in football, the lack of public knowledge on Sheikh Jassim is startling. It’s not even known whether he’s 40 or 41!
Much more is known about his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, nicknamed both ‘HBJ’…