Man Utd takeover: Sheikh Jassim's dad drops HUGE hint

Tom Weber

Updated: 23 Jun 2023 19:01 BST
5 min read

Sheikh Jassim's father has fueled speculation about his son's Manchester United takeover hopes.

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The Qatari banker has been involved in a fierce bidding war with British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe for months. For a long time, it seemed as though the latter had gotten the better of Jassim due to his offering the current owners, the Glazers, a slower buyout process with a chance to retain a stake in the club.

Jassim, on the other hand, had always been keen on a 100 per cent acquisition, but his comparatively low offers that fell way short of the Glazers' valuation meant that he wasn't considered the favourite. This has changed in recent times.

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The Qatari recently tabled a fifth and final proposal and although that too isn't quite as high as the Glazers would have hoped for, the feeling is that he is in with a real chance of successfully concluding this saga. Speculation about a potential victory has now also been fueled by Jassim's father.

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A post shared by حمد بن جاسم (@hbj_althani)

A consequential Instagram post

Former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani posted a picture of himself and his son Jassim on Instagram. Now, this doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary on the face of it, but the timing makes it interesting and so does the fact that only a handful of photos of Jassim actually exist.

The banker usually shies away from the public spotlight, so it is quite significant that his father would choose this moment in time to release another photo; the last Instagram post of his that also features his son is from 233 weeks ago - December 2018.

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Recent reports suggested that Jassim will remain keen on taking over a Premier League club even if his United bid fails. One possible side could be Tottenham. It will be interesting to see whether Jassim will make more public appearances as the takeover process nears its conclusion.