Man Utd shares up 10 per cent but Qataris still waiting on exclusivity

Manchester United's share price spiked almost 10 per cent on Thursday following a report from Reuters that the club are negotiating granting exclusivity to Sheikh Jassim.

The Qatari banker has made five bids to buy United in a deal which would value the club at up to £6bn.

Sources close to Sheikh Jassim say he is still waiting to hear if he has entered into exclusivity.

No exclusivity has been granted to any party interested in buying or investing in the club.

Reuters say the Glazer family currently view Sheikh Jassim's bid more favourably than a rival offer from British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

Sheikh Jassim wants to buy 100 per cent of the club in a debt-free deal, whereas Ratcliffe is believed to be willing to buy the 69 per cent of the club owned by the Glazer family in a phased takeover

The company Sheikh Jassim wants to use to buy United - Nine Two UK Holdings Limited - was officially incorporated at Companies House on Thursday but the process to do this would have started weeks ago.

Man Utd are widely seen as one of the most prized assets in all of sport. A $6bn deal would make the deal one of the biggest sports deals ever, following the similarly-sized sale of the National Football League's Washington Commanders earlier this year.

United are the fourth-richest football club in the world, according to analysis by Deloitte.