Sheffield United takeover price 'broadly accepted' by parties in deal talks

After watching Paul Heckingbottom and his squad win promotion from the Championship last season, Prince Abdullah is understood to value United at more than £140m given their Premier League status. That is at least £25m above the figure he agreed with Dozy Mmobuosi earlier this year, before the Nigerian’s bid collapsed.

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Although the identities of Prince Abdullah’s would-be replacements remains a closely guarded secret, one is known to hail from his homeland of Saudi Arabia while the others are based in the US.

No period of exclusivity has been granted - something Mmobuosi paid nearly £9m to secure before failing to gain the necessary approvals - only one is believed to have baulked at the demands of Prince Abdullah and his associates.

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Despite refusing to publicly enter the debate about United’s future, Heckingbottom will want it to be resolved at the earliest possible opportunity given the effect it has on his transfer planning. Initially, he has around £20m to spend on bolstering a team which, by general consensus, needs to sign at least five or six new players to bolster its chances of survival. But Heckingbottom and his coaching staff are aware the purse strings could be loosened if there is a change at the helm, which will make it difficult to commit to some of the deals they are currently discussing.

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Everton’s Mason Holgate and former loanee Tommy Doyle are among his targets, with the latter possibly set to return on a temporary basis again. Conor Coady, who had been linked with Bramall Lane, now appears set to agree a move to Leicester City although Heckingbottom’s inner circle has never confirmed the defender was a genuine option.

With Mmobuosi now seemingly out of the picture, as he battles to repair the reputation of his companies following a series of allegations made against them in the States, Prince Abdullah’s attention quickly turned to North America and the Middle East where interest in footballing is booming among their sporting and business communities.

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Sela Sports, now Newcastle’s major shirt sponsors following their buyout by a consortium led by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, once viewed United as a potential acquisition and are said to have handed them around £3m while Prince Abdullah was still in co-control with Kevin McCabe.

Conflict of interest concerns would appear to prevent any relationship with them being resurrected. However, despite the PIF’s presence at St James’ Park, a number of companies and organisations from Saudi have been linked with some of United’s top-flight rivals in the not-so-distant past.

The Saudi Media and Research Group wanted to buy Chelsea before they were sold to a consortium led by private equity firm Clearlake Capital. Although there is no suggestion SMRG are keen on United, the PL raised no concerns about its flirtation with Stamford Bridge because it does not have direct ties to the Saudi government.

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