da dobrowin： Journalist Ben Jacobs has stated that the "big difference" currently between Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe is that the former has "heavyweight" financial and legal experts to help him with the Manchester United takeover, while the latter has adopted a more personal approach.
What's the latest on the Man Utd takeover?
da bwin： While the Glazer family are potentially ready to sell the Premier League giants, much speculation exists over just who could end up taking over in the near future.
As things heat up, Sir Jim Ratcliffe was recently spotted in person at Old Trafford. However, Sheikh Jassim didn't actually show his face 24 hours earlier when his team also met United’s chief executive Richard Arnold (via The Telegraph).
While talking about the situation on the UnitedPeoplesTV podcast, Jacobs explained that Sheikh Jassim has more "experts" to help him get a deal done but by "showing face" perhaps Sir Jim Ratcliffe has helped his cause.
He said: "It can't hurt to be there in person talking all day to Raine representatives. And we expect the meetings to also go on relatively late, probably nine or 10 hours as well.
"The big difference between Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim's approaches is that Sheikh Jassim has sent executives from the world of banking, and finance, and advisors and their heavyweights. And it's pretty much the best bench from that industry.
“Whereas with Jim Ratcliffe, it's INEOS in-house, and it's a mix of business – all the co-founders are there – and sport. So a slightly different approach.
"And you could argue that Sheikh Jassim's delegation had more experts to get a deal done in terms of negotiating, lawyers, financial experts. But Jim Ratcliffe is showing face, and is bringing football experts as well."
Will the Glazers sell Man Utd?
It still remains unclear if the Glazers will be willing to sell their prize asset. After all, a report in ESPN suggests that the family has been "underwhelmed" by the touted valuations of the club.
However, Sheikh Jassim may have just pushed himself ahead in the race with Sky Sports stating that he would now be "willing to overpay" to get closer to the desired £6bn figure.
With that in mind, perhaps Sir Jim Ratcliffe will have to do more than just charm the club with his presence. After all, it seems more likely the Glazers will only really care about who can provide them with the highest offer.
Even so, you never know how things can twist and turn behind the scenes, so perhaps Sheikh Jassim will come to regret not attending the recent meeting in person.