INEOS receives an extension for signing Manchester United

• Sports

INEOS and Qatar get an extension to bid to buy Manchester United. It will still take days to find out if the offers presented will be in line with what the Glazer family, owner of the club, would like. It could be the biggest financial transaction in the history of football for the purchase of a club.

The 5.00 pm local time in New York, headquarters of the Raine Group, chosen last November to follow the buying and selling process, was not respected, also considering the results obtained for Chelsea. The deadline of Wednesday 22 March had a completely different meaning than that of February.

There was great expectation to know the numbers and, within a week, if the Glazer family is willing to sell 100% of the shares. Instead, the deadline was not respected by all and the two main contenders independently asked for an extension to understand the correct offer to present that could satisfy the Glazers but at the same time make economic sense .

As Sky Sports UK reports, no proposals have arrived but both Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani have asked for an extension, accepted by the Glazer family and Raine Group, the company that is handling the sale.

Raine Group reportedly said it had received many offers before the deadline. From Qatar they are convinced that they will win with a new offer, an absolute record for the sale of a sports club: around 6 billion pounds, excluding debts.

There is talk of a possible offer of 5 billion pounds, but from what Sky Sports News learned at the time Sheikh Jassim bin Hamas Al Thani would have asked for an extension before presenting it. Last Thursday a delegation from Sheikh Jassim had been at Old Trafford to speak with United executives.

Their meeting lasted about ten hours, much longer than expected. The sheikh himself, who did not go to Manchester this time, had already been with some of his close collaborators at Old Trafford, but as a fan. The reason for the new visit was to talk about possible new investments in infrastructure, development of the youth sector and women's team. The extension request has been accepted, but the timing is not yet clear.