Sir Jim Ratcliffe facing competition for Man Utd stake as Sky Sports reporter drops board meeting update

A Sky Sports journalist explained the latest on Sir Jim Ratcliffe's attempts to buy a 25 per cent stake of Manchester United.

Kaveh Solhekol claimed that while Ratcliffe was the favourite to buy a stake in United, other parties are still interested in minority investment in the Old Trafford club.

Moreover, Solhekol added that it is unlikely Ratcliffe's 25 per cent investment will be announced upon the close of a United board meeting on Thursday.

The journalist told the outlet: "I would be surprised if there's any announcement [on Thursday] about Jim Ratcliffe buying 25 per cent of Manchester United.

"Having said that what we do know is that this strategic review started in November last year and has been going on since then.

"We know that Sheikh Jassim of Qatar wanted to buy 100 per cent of Manchester United.

"Over the weekend he dropped out. He's withdrawn his offer and that means that Jim Ratcliffe is now the favourite to buy a stake in Manchester United.

"I think there's other people who want to buy Manchester United stakes as well, but he is the one that I think the Glazer family are ready to do a deal with.

"It's just that I don't expect the deal to be announced on Thursday."