Sheikh Jassim made a fifth and final bid for the club last week and it is understood that his offer is viewed more favourably by the owners than a rival bid from British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

United sealed the third place, finishing the season with 75 points, after they came from behind to defeat Fulham 2-1 in the last game of the league season.

Offers from the last round of bidding were believed to have been worth a maximum of £5 billion.

Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe remain the front runners to buy United should the Glazers give up control of the club.

The deadline has reportedly been pushed back to allow proposals to be fine-tuned.

There will be another day of presentations and tours at United on Friday, with boyhood United fan Ratcliffe due to fly in from Nice where he owns the city's Ligue 1 football club.

The news comes days after it was reported that bids from Qatar's Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to buy the club had progressed to the next stage.

Liverpool's fourth win in five league matches lifted them above Newcastle United into fifth on 42 points, three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a game in hand.

Manchester United's owners, the Glazer family, are considering selling the club in what could become the biggest sports deal ever.

Jim Ratcliffe had already expressed interest in United several weeks ago and his Ineos company followed the Qatari offer by officially submitting their own bid.

No details are given on the amount proposed in the bid for the club but the price could reach a record US$6 billion, according to reports.

In recent years, United have fallen into the shadow of City, who won their fourth league title in five years in 2022 and also reached the Champions League final in 2020-21.