Sir Jim Ratcliffe will attempt to get the best of the Qatari bid for Manchester United by personally attending Old Trafford with his Ineos sporting team.
The two leading contenders to buy the club have taken different approaches in the delegations they are sending to meetings with brokers and the club.
Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani is not attending in person on Thursday, but has dispatched senior advisors, lawyers and Bank of America executives.
Ratcliffe, in contrast, is flying into Manchester so he can listen to presentations face to face on Friday. He will be joined by Ineos co-owners Andy Currie and John Reece; Ineos Sport chair Rob Nevin and CEO Jean Claude Blanc; and Sir David Brailsford, the former British cycling chief who is now director of sport at Ineos Sport.
The Qatari group, meanwhile, includes Shahzad Shabaz, who is president of the newly-created NineTwo foundation which would run the club. Fady Backhos, a senior personal advisor to the Sheikh, Sam Powers, a global head at Bank of America, Yasir Shah, managing director at Bank of America and lawyers from the firm Macfarlanes will also be in attendance.
As reported by Telegraph Sport on Wednesday, the two bidders are among eight groups in talks with United about the future ownership of the club.
Some of the eight are interested in a full takeover while others are contemplating financing options. As reported by Telegraph Sport, executives at United have been explaining to bidders about the “opportunities and challenges” of running the club. One source close to the talks says United’s director of football, John Murtough, is among the delegation addressing interested parties.
Insiders maintain that the process remains on track and a deal is within reach by the end of next month, despite fears elsewhere that the deadline could be extended.
Only the Qatari and Ineos bids have publicly disclosed their preference for a total buyout of the six Glazer siblings’ controlling Class B shares. Sources with knowledge of the process say there are two other parties interested in buying the club in its entirety.
The Americans want at least £5 billion to sell but it is thought the offers from Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe fall short of that valuation