It comes after the deadline for bids 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 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 Man Utd, which US owners the Glazer family are believed to value at £6bn.

Read more: The contenders to buy Manchester United

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

Sir Jim, who owns French club Nice, also hinted he would not pay an inflated price for his hometown 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."

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The two men are the only publicly known bidders, but several other interested parties are said to have visited in the past few weeks

Sky News understands other financing proposals being considered could even see the Glazers stay involved with the club by agreeing to a minority deal.