Who is really behind the Qatari bid for Manchester United?

When Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani was revealed as the man behind the £4.5billion Qatari bid for Manchester United, it was widely assumed that the banker was chosen because of his supposed independence from the ruling regime, writes Robert Dineen.

With UEFA banning any individual or entity from owning more than one club in the same competition, a state-backed Qatari offer for United would have risked conflict with the Gulf state's involvement in Paris Saint-Germain.

However, it does not take much digging to find links between the French club's ownership and Al Thani, the chair of the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB).

PSG is owned by the Qatar Sports Authority (QSA), with its chair Nasser Al-Khelaifi the club's president.

QSA is owned by the Qatari Investment Authority (QIA), the country's £374billion sovereign wealth fund. QIA is also QIB's largest shareholder, with 17.7 percent of the stock.

As it happens, Al Thani's father Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, Qatar's former prime minister, is also the former chair of QIA.

Ultimately, it seems, though United's suitors might argue otherwise, all threads lead to the country's seat of power.