Any UAE-based consortium looking to buy Man Utd could have links to arch-rivals Man City, according to a football finance expert.

Saudi Arabian boxing promoter Turki Al-Sheikh caused a stir amongst the?Man Utd?fanbase recently when he claimed a potential takeover of the club was ‘advanced’.

Al-Sheikh wrote on?X: ‘The best news I heard today is that?Manchester United?is now in an advanced stage of completing a deal to sell to a new investor – I hope he’s better than the previous owners.’

But?Al-Sheikh had to clarify his comments after speculation that he or another Saudi was involved in the potential takeover in some way.

Posting again the day after,?Al-Sheikh wrote: ‘My yesterday’s post about Manchester United’s potential sale meant one thing: the club is in an advanced negotiation phase with a new investor.

‘Just to clarify, I am not the investor, nor are they from my nation. I’m posting this as a fan who wishes the deal to happen, though it might not necessarily happen.’

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Widespread reports have since claimed that an unnamed UAE-based consortium are interested in buying out the Glazers with a ‘meeting’ involving Man Utd officials held in London last week.

Sheikh Mansour, who owns Man City, is vice president and deputy prime minister of the UAE and former?Citizens financial adviser?Stefan Borson insists there are likely to be links to their neighbours if a UAE investment firm buy Man Utd.

Borson told Football Insider: “I don’t think any of it is likely, to be honest. I could turn out to be completely wrong. It would immediately give rise to some potential issues in relation to associated party transactions.

“I’ve not looked deeply into the parties that might be involved from the UAE, but we know that both Saudi and the UAE have investments in so many related businesses within the countries that many things can be not just related party transactions but can be associated party transactions.

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“So, you’ve got that complexity first of all. You’ve also got a situation where they ran a process two years ago and you’d have to ask why would a bidder be running now that wasn’t there two years ago?

“How have they kept it secret if it is really going on in the background? How have they not made any sort of more formal announcement to the New York Stock Exchange? What price would be paid? Or is somebody really going to come along and pay let’s say $33 (￡24.58) or more when that seems to be more than most people think it’s worth.”

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