Man United takeover: Who are the bidders who want to buy Man Utd from the Glazers?

The Glazer family's controversial ownership of Manchester United could be coming to an end but plenty of uncertainty remains even now the English domestic season has finished.

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani's Qatar-backed bid and an offer from Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos Group are the main contenders to buy the club, either outright or partially from its current owners.

The Glazers have endured a tempestuous relationship with United fans since their leveraged buyout takeover at Old Trafford in 2005 and confirmed in November that they were exploring the possibility of a sale.

Despite Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus claiming to still to be in the running despite not making a fresh bid for the final deadline and several investors reported to have taken an interest in acquiring a minority stake, this would now appear to be a battle between Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe.

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 Who is buying Manchester United?

Widespread reports on October 14 said that Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani had withdrawn from the bidding process for Manchester United.

Transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano claimed that the final bid had been worth almost double the $3.5 billion market valuation of the club, and said the Sheikh had planned an extra $1.5bn of investment. Sky News was among the outlets to announce that they also understood the offer had been withdrawn.

The Daily Mail had reported on June 7 that Sheikh Jassim had launched a fifth and final revised bid to buy Manchester United, with a deadline of June 9 for further negotiations.

The offer, while a potential world record for a sports team, fell short of the Glazers' £6bn valuation but would have represented a clean break from their