From The Sunday Mirror:
The Dubai sheikh who wants to take over Manchester United has been in talks with the club's major shareholders since the turn of the year.
Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal that Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktokum, pictured below, is already a business associate of Irish racehorse tycoons John Magnier and JP McManus.
Their investment vehicle Cubic Expression owns a 29 per cent share in United.
Sheikh Mohammed's company, Dubai International Capital (DIC,) has financed a purpose-built complex called Sports City in the oil-rich Middle East country.
And Magnier and McManus have made a £15million investment in the project by financing a state-of-the-art leisure resort.
Now, a week after we revealed that the Sheikh is ready to launch a bid to buy United, we can confirm that a tentative approach was made to Cubic Expression as early as January to discover whether they are interested in selling their Old Trafford stake.
United have launched their own soccer school in Sports City - a metropolis that measures more than 50m square feet - with club sponsors Nike, major backers of the project.
And while United fans do not want to see the club fall into the hands of one individual, there would be significantly less opposition to Sheikh Mohammed than there is over American Malcolm Glazer's bid to take control.