REVEALED: The reason the Glazers refused to sell Man United to Sheikh Jassim

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani never proved he had sufficient proof he could find his bid to buy Manchester United, according to documents submitted to American authorities.

United and Sir Jim Ratcliffe announced on Christmas Eve he had agreed a £1.3billion deal to acquire a minority stake in the club after 13 months of negotiations.

And according to a new filing on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released on Wednesday evening, Sheikh Jassim repeatedly failed to provide the source of his funding.

The complicated and dragged out nature of United's sale process is charted in the SEC filings and reveal the Glazers also offered him the chance to purchase United in May last year for $5.76bn (£4.55 billion).

From the moment the Glazers family announced they would listen to offers for the club as part of a 'strategic review process' back in November 2022, the Qatari consortium and INEOS boss Ratcliffe emerged as the two front-runners to take over at Old Trafford.

Sheikh Jassim tabled five separate bids for the full control of the club, but withdrew the offer in October after growing increasingly frustrated with the process.

His last offer of £5.5billion fell short of the £6bn the Americans are thought to want and opened the door for Ratcliffe to complete a deal for a 29 per cent stake in the club subject to regulatory approval next month.

Unlike Ratcliffe's deal to purchase a minority stake, Sheikh Jassim's bid was for 100 percent of the club and would see the Qatari consortium buy out the Glazers and all other shareholders.

Sheikh Jassim also pledged to invest around £1bn on either redeveloping Old Trafford or building a new stadium, along with transforming United's training facility.

The proposal raised questions