Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani has submitted an improved bid to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family.

Bidders were granted an extension to the previous deadline of Wednesday this week in order to lodge improved offers to purchase the club.

A rival bid from Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS was confirmed in recent days, with Sheikh Jassim’s representatives now confirming that they too have upped their offer.

Reports claim United had expected to receive Sheikh Jassim’s latest bid by Friday night, though ‘finer details’ had to be sorted and it was submitted in the early hours of Saturday morning instead.

Raine Group, who are handling the sale, have also received a number of offers for a minority stake in United, with one notably coming from Elliott Investment Management – the former owners of AC Milan.

Meanwhile, Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus, who claims to have submitted a speculative offer earlier this week, called on Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim to join his bid on Saturday in order to act in the best interests of the club.

The Glazers are looking to sell United before the summer transfer window, though 90min has consistently reported that they will back away from deals if their £6bn valuation is not met.

Recent bidders are likely to hear back from Raine Group in a week.

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Alexis Sanchez has spoken at length about how he would have won the UEFA Champions League with Manchester City if he had joined them instead of Manchester United in 2018.

The Chilean arrived in England in 2014 from Barcelona, joining Arsenal off the back of a stellar FIFA World Cup campaign.

Sanchez cemented his place as one of the Premier League’s finest players during his first three seasons with the Gunners, but sought to leave in the summer of 2017 with one year left on his contract.

He was continually linked with a reunion with ex-Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola at Man City. A deal looked to be in the works late in the window, but Arsenal’s moves to replace him collapsed and the transfer fell apart – Raheem Sterling and Thomas Lemar were heavily linked with switches to the Emirates Stadium.

When the January window rolled around, Man City were again hopeful of signing Sanchez, but they were beaten to a deal by Man Utd.

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In an interview with TVN, Chile’s public broadcaster, Sanchez discussed this transfer saga.

“I was about to go to City. I spoke to Guardiola every day, he told me happy birthday. He was like my dad, He was my dad at Barcelona and he was like my dad at City,” Sanchez began.

“We talked, we talked every day, he sent me messages. And everything was ready, there was a player who was going to go to Arsenal. Then [Arsene] Wenger tells me you are not leaving because the other player did not want to come and they do not have another.

“Suddenly, the cell phone rings. [Jose] Mourinho tells me: ‘Alexis, here is the [number] seven available for you’.

“It wasn’t a money thing, so everyone knows. It was the same with United and City. And he said to me ‘here is the seven, we are playing in the Champions League and we are going to give everything’. I wanted to leave at that moment, but I had Guardiola’s word.

“That’s when I said to myself, a Chilean footballer playing for Manchester United, something that has never happened. With the seven of [Eric] Cantona, [David] Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and now a Chilean had it, it was a dream.

“I don’t regret going to United, things happen for a reason. I would have liked to have gone to City, yes. We would have won the Champions League by now. In the final I would have done something.”

There were huge expectations for Sanchez at Man Utd, particularly after he was so prolific in Arsenal teams which underwhelmed for the most part.

Mourinho’s side needed a fresh injection of energy to reignite a flailing 2017/18 season, but were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the last 16 stage by Sevilla and lost the FA Cup final to a Chelsea team that finished three places behind Man Utd in the Premier League table.

Sanchez would score just five goals in 45 games for Man Utd before joining Inter, helping them win Serie A in 2021.

He now plays for Marseille in Ligue 1.

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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the race to sign Jude Bellingham, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham future, Roy Hodgson’s return to Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland’s contract, Mason Mount & more!

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England defender Harry Maguire has revealed he will head to Euro 2024 with the mindset that anything less than winning the competition will be a failure.

The Three Lions have cemented their status as a strong tournament team over the last half-decade under the guidance of Gareth Southgate.

After reaching the FIFA World Cup semi-finals in 2018, England were only denied victory at Euro 2020 on penalties against Italy in the final.

There were high hopes that they could go all the way at the 2022 World Cup over the winter, but were narrowly beaten by reigning champions France in a hard-fought quarter-final.

England kicked off their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win at Italy, and speaking to the press post-match, Maguire revealed his ambitions for glory in Germany next summer.

“I think for me, at my age as well, 30 years old now, I’m with a mindset of, ‘If we don’t win the tournament, it’s been a failure’,” he said.

“We’ve got to qualify first – I mean it’s a tough group, [but] we’ve come here and got an amazing result.

“But that’s my mindset. I’ve been at three major tournaments now and I’ve come so close. I believe we have the players to win it. We went into Qatar wanting to win the tournament. So ultimately, when we get knocked out, as a squad we’re disappointed. The performances were good, we kept the most clean sheets at the tournament, we were one of the top goalscorers despite going out in the quarter-final.

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“I’m speaking on behalf of myself but I know from speaking to the other lads as well, they were really pleased that Gareth stayed [on as manager]. We’ve built something as a group and he’s been the leader of it. He’s been the one who’s given us hope and given us belief as a country to be successful in these major tournaments and, for sure, it benefits us for us for him to be in charge.

“These big tournaments are decided on the finest margins. We played really well in the World Cup and ultimately, we got knocked out by a good French team. A French team that we believe we can take on and if we play them ten times, we would give them a good game ten times and probably win more than we lose.

“However, they’ve proven over the years that they manage to get the job done better than England do. So it’s something that we’re working on. We have so much talent and so many young players coming through.”

Maguire recognised that England were simply beaten at the 2022 World Cup by a more experienced and successful international side in France.

Despite reservations over Didier Deschamps, the 54-year-old has an incredible tournament record – to have won one final and lost two others is a far better record than most other coaches in the history of football.

England hope to be on a similar path with Southgate, but as Maguire insisted, they need to win a tournament if they’re to be remembered fondly and without tinges of regret.