Manchester United news – latest: Qatari bid confirmed before deadline for offers

One of the elements to football coaching that separates the great from the good is understanding that each individual footballer needs to be managed in their own individual way.

Over the years, Pep Guardiola has drawn much criticism for being hard pressed to issue Phil Foden with any praise and has often pointed out where the England starlet has gone wrong. Foden, however, has never once showed any sign of discontent, the constructive criticism taken on board to help him develop into one of the country’s most exciting talents for a generation.

His current spell out of the team is another way of Guardiola giving Foden reminders there is still work to be done to make him the finished article.

Interest from the Middle East is also expected. The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is a Man Utd fan and has been suggested as a potential bidder.

However, Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) - the state’s wealth fund that the emir owns - already runs Paris Saint-Germain with a bid therefore unlikely unless the sale of the French club is agreed.

There may be interest from private Qatari investors as well but as The Independent’s Miguel Delaney reports, such a move would likely still require state-level sanctioning and therefore would again be a conflict of interest with the state’s current ownership of PSG.

Saudi Arabian bidders are expected but the state-run Public Investment Fund (PIF) - majority owners of Newcastle United since last year – are unable to be one.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, at this stage, is the only interested party to publicly announce his interest in taking over Manchester United. Britain’s richest man, who also owns French club Nice, is a boyhood United fan and confirmed in January he will be making a bid.

The Oldham-born billionaire owns INEOS Group, a British chemical company, and has hired American banks JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to help him during the process.

Erik ten Hag says Manchester United and FC Barcelona had to press “reset” after challenging periods for giant clubs that are back on track heading into their eye-catching Europa League clash.

Having met in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals, these European heavyweights now find themselves in a knockout play-off to decide whose continental campaign extends beyond February.

Barca dropped into the Europa League after finishing third in their Champions League group behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan after a summer of wild transfers, despite financial uncertainty.

United stumbled home sixth last season and went straight into the Europa League, where they finished second behind Real Sociedad on goal difference.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s richest people, has confirmed he has entered the bidding to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family.

The Ineos chairman, whose wealth in 2020 was estimated at $28.2billion, is a lifelong United supporter from Greater Manchester.

The petrochemicals billionaire is the owner of Nice, Swiss team FC Lausanne-Sport and the Tour de France-winning cycling team Ineos Grenadiers, which he took over from Team Sky, and submitted a £4.25billion bid for Chelsea before Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital sealed their takeover.

The Glazers have owned United since 2005 but announced in November that they were considering a sale when they said they were “commencing a process to explore strategic alternatives”.

Manchester United came from behind but couldn’t see out the win, drawing 2-2 with FC Barcelona in a pulsating Europa League play-off first leg in Spain.

The first half was certainly a case of goalkeepers on top, as David de Gea denied Robert Lewandowski early on before, at the other end, Marc-Andre ter Stegen denied both Wout Weghorst and Marcus Rashford.

The finishing was far stronger after the restart though, with a flurry of second-half goals seeing the tie swing back and forth after Marcos Alonso first headed home the opener at the far post.

Rashford quickly equalised with a brilliant near-post finish, before his run then ended in a cross being turned into his own net by Jules Kounde - only for Raphinha’s cross to then drift in at the other end for 2-2.

Here are the player ratings from the first leg at the Camp Nou.

It was another game that made it feel like Marcus Rashford’s season, even his world, but there is an alternate timeline where he was on the other side.

Way back in the 2018/19 season, Barcelona were making serious overtures for the Manchester United forward. Eric Abidal was intent on Rashford, and the belief was they could get him.

The player himself wasn’t as intent, though, and was ultimately only interested in staying at United. Figures within Barcelona would later talk of Rashford “bottling it”, something rather ironic given how that season’s Champions League campaign ended at Anfield.

They are thinking rather differently now, after this Europa League match at Camp Nou. Almost everyone was wowed. Rashford was all they could talk about. It was one of those nights when the Catalan and Spanish media are just taken aback by a “star”, someone they have to have.

Manchester United boss, Erik ten Hag, says that his players are enjoying this busy period of play which sees the club compete every three days or so.

The Red Devils are the only team still competing for four trophies. They’ve reached the final of the Carabao Cup have progressed into the FA Cup fifth round, are five points off the top of the Premier League and face Barcelona in the Europa League play-off round.

“The players in our squad like it,” he said when asked about the busy schedule. “They like it. They like to play big games and they know also as a team and as individuals that you grow from such games.

“Today we are better players, a better team, so that will help us in our process. We are in the right direction, so we have to keep this process going.

“We will analyse again, we will criticise, what went good, what went wrong and we move on.

“Sunday next game, next big game.”

Today has been described as the soft deadline for initial offers in the sale of Manchester United and comes in the midst of a frantic schedule, creating background noise that Erik ten Hag says will not distract the team.

“We are following it,” Ten Hag said. “It’s our club and of course we are committed. But we are focusing on football, on training and our way of play, on games. That is what we are focusing on.

“We are really enjoying in the moment with the togetherness. It’s enjoyable to work. We are focusing on games and we have four leagues, so others in the club will have to take decisions, give efforts in the process but it’s not up to us.”

Erik ten Hag and his players are following the ongoing takeover talk but the Manchester United manager says there is no chance of their focus wavering as they fight on four fronts.

The Glazer family completed their controversial leveraged takeover at Old Trafford in 2005, with initial success on the field drying up after Sir Alex Ferguson retired a decade ago.

United have not won any silverware since 2017 and Ten Hag took over at a time of palpable fan anger against the ownership given the debt, dividends and perceived mismanagement.

November’s announcement that the Glazers were conducting a strategic review brought hope to frustrated supporters, with the sale of United one option being considered.