It comes after the deadline for bids on the football club was extended on Wednesday.

Qatar's Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad and Sir Jim had both submitted requests for more time to fine-tune their submissions ahead of the original deadline.

A delegation from Sir Jim's firm INEOS visited the club last week, spending six hours at meetings and touring Old Trafford and the Carrington training ground.

Sheikh Jassim was previously understood to be determined to not pay over the odds for the club, which owners the Glazer family are believed to have valued at £6bn.

But his position is believed to have softened after a Qatari delegation visited Old Trafford in recent days, with talks lasting 10 hours.

Sir Jim, who owns French club Nice, also hinted he would not pay over the odds for the club.

He told the Wall Street Journal: "How do you decide the price of a painting? How do you decide the price of a house? It's not related to how much it cost to build or how much it cost to paint.

"What you don't want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently."

The two men are the only known bidders for the club but Sky News understands there are several other financing proposals being presented to the Glazers.

An option for the Glazer family, who announced they were open to selling in November, is an arrangement in which they could keep control of United by agreeing to a minority deal.