Manchester United have moved to deny reports that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim have submitted new, world record bids to buy the club.

That is despite both parties stating they have lodged offers, says the Mirror.

A deadline was set for Wednesday at 9pm for bidders to submit their fresh offers, and it was initially understood that Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim have lodged fresh bids that would smash the record spent for a sporting franchise.

However, United have since briefed that neither group has made a new bid and that they have requested an extension from The Raine Group. This has been accepted, with bids from Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe expected to arrive imminently. As many as five bids from anonymous parties did meet the deadline, however.

Information from Ratcliffe and the Qatari group led by Sheikh Jassim suggested that they had increased their initial £4.5billion bids to around the £5bn mark, but that has now been denied.