Formal offers for Manchester United due to be submitted this week, Glazers unlikely to receive desired price

Formal offers for the purchase of Manchester United are due to be submitted this week, according to reports.

That information is coming from the Daily Mail, which say the sale is expected to attract initial offers of around £4 billion, with interest from the US, the Middle East and Asia; as well as Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who announced his interest last month.

It was back in November when the club announced that the Glazer family were looking for new investment in the club.

Despite there being no clarification on whether it would be a full sale or not in the statement, several reliable reports have since confirmed that it is the more likely scenario.

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The club are currently valued at £3 billion on the New York Stock Exchange and with buyers usually expected to pay around 25 percent more, it implies a £4 billion price tag.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire said: “The Glazers are hoping for £6 billion to £8 billion but (the) business fundamentals do not justify that price, especially with a substantial capital expenditure commitment (needed) for a new or enhanced Old Trafford.

“Therefore it will either be auction headiness or testosterone that results in a price of that nature, but we’ve seen that before.”

The aforementioned report added that Qatar Sports Investments are also interested in buying United as well as arch-rivals Liverpool.

However, United’s process for a sale is understood to be much further down the track – and to have attracted far higher indicative bids.

Avram Glazer was spotted in Qatar during the World Cup and the previous report added that he held a number of informal meetings with potential investors.

The Reds are working on developments to their stadium, and that is something that is expected to be passed onto new owners.

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Previous reports have detailed that there are two main options: a brand-new stadium, which would cost around £2 billion or refurbishing Old Trafford, being slightly lower at just above £1 billion.