Manchester United have been embroiled in a takeover saga for quite some time now; however, journalist Ben Jacobs has suggested that the timescale pressure on when the Red Devils may change hands is now 'less panicked' due to the main priority at Old Trafford right now being transfer activity.
What's the latest on the takeover situation at Manchester United?
According to iNews, The Glazer family have effectively 'paused' the takeover process at Manchester United despite both Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani's Nine Two Foundation and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS petrochemicals firm being in the running to take control at Old Trafford.
A source close to one of the bidders spoke to the outlet about the current state of play, stating: "We’ve not been given any guidance at all on what comes next. There haven’t been requests to modify the offers or come up with a new round of bids as there was earlier in the process, there’s just been no communication whatsoever of late."
The Daily Mail claim that talks are still ongoing between the Glazers and a number of parties over either a full sale or partial investment in Manchester United.
Nevertheless, neither party has managed to get close to the Glazers' £6 billion asking price and the delay is believed to have caused 'frustration' from both delegations that are looking to buy the club.
Sheikh Jassim is keen to fully buy out Manchester United, while Ratcliffe is proposing to take majority control of the club in a deal that could allow some of the Glazer family to stay on in a minority stakeholder role, as per Sky News.
Speaking to Football FanCast, journalist Jacobs thinks that some of the time constraints regarding the completion of a potential takeover may have loosened due to the main priority right now at Manchester United being player recruitment.
Jacobs told FFC: "I think that the next step in terms of timescale is less urgent in some ways because this window is not going to be possible to influence and once you can't influence the summer and because the Glazers have actually spent bigger than expected, whether the groups now we'll get in this month, next month, the month after, it doesn't quite make as much difference now.
"Summer is the best time for transition. But, if they get in, in September, October, or November, because the season planning is all done now, bizarrely, time is less important because the time was all dictated and the urgency was all dictated to get in for the summer. The fact that the groups can't get in for the summer if any of them are successful now means that they're almost less panicked about a specific timescale. It's more about just understanding who is genuinely a front-runner in all of this and dropping the games and having the Glazers finally communicate whether they're going to stay or go and that's where we're at."
What next for Manchester United?
Manchester United boss Erik Ten Hag will be preparing his squad for the start of the Premier League campaign, where they will host Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford on August 14th in their opening fixture.
The Red Devils are reportedly considering trying to trump Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal to beat them to the signing of Southampton youngster Romeo Lavia, who is believed to be valued at around the £50 million mark on the South Coast, as per The Independent.
Rasmus Hojlund will be officially unveiled by Manchester United on Saturday before their pre-season friendly against Ligue 1 side Lens at Old Trafford, as per transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.
Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has claimed that Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka is also still a target for Manchester United this window.