Sheikh Jassim is still waiting to hear whether his fifth and final offer for Manchester United has been successful, according to sources close to the Qatari.

Recent reports within Qatar had indicated that the Sheikh’s bid – which is for 100 per cent of the club – had seen off the bid from Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

However, the Sheikh Jassim camp described those reports as pure speculation and say they remain in a ‘holding pattern’. They expect the next step will be for the United board to meet and consider both bids.

United have been approached for comment.

Sheikh Jassim’s fifth bid was made last week, but at the same time it was made clear to the Glazer family – who own the club – and to the Raine merchant banking group which is overseeing the sale that he would not engage with the process beyond last Friday.

The Qataris are eager to get the deal done with the summer transfer window about to kick into gear.

Sheikh Jassim’s bid is understood to be a fully cash deal for 100 per cent of the club, and that all United’s debts would be cleared.

Sources close to the Sheikh’s bid say that separate, additional funding would be made available for player recruitment, infrastructure and other investment needs.

The Glazers first announced their intention to consider a sale of the club in November last year, with the first bids from Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim tabled in February.

There have been reports that Ratcliffe’s offer is for 60 per cent of the club, with Avram and Joel Glazer retaining a combined 20 per cent stake, but sources close to Ratcliffe have not confirmed this.

Jimmy Butler still believes he can lead the Miami Heat to NBA championship glory despite his team falling short in a 4-1 series defeat to the Denver Nuggets.

The Denver Nuggets became NBA champions for the first time after a tense 94-89 win over Miami in Game 5 on Monday.

Miami, just the second No. 8 seed out of a conference to reach the NBA Finals, made the Nuggets work for the clinching win. They held a seven-point halftime lead and were 89-88 ahead inside the last two minutes.

But the Nuggets, boosted by another monster performance from NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, rallied to end the franchise's long championship drought.

Butler has been with the Heat for four seasons and lost out in the NBA Finals twice – with the Los Angeles Lakers triumphant in six games back in 2020 on his previous attempt to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy – but the six-time All-Star, who is three months from turning 34, remains optimistic.

"It's been great," Butler said to ESPN about his four seasons with the Heat. 

"I've had some helluva teammates come through and compete with me and give us the opportunity to win a championship, which I still believe, with everything in me, that we will do as a team here, as an organisation, as a city in Miami.

"I'm just grateful. I learned so much from this group. They taught me so much. I wish I could have got it done for these guys, because they definitely deserve it."

Coach Erik Spoelstra accepted the Nuggets were worthy winners but spoke with pride about his team's achievements in a dramatic season.

Miami almost lost to the Chicago Bulls during the second game of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament before their sensational run to the Finals, beating the No.1-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks and championship favourites the Boston Celtics.

"There's no regrets on our end," Spoelstra said. "There's just sometimes where you get beat, and Denver was the better basketball team in this series. 

"Those last three or four minutes felt like a scene out of a movie. Two teams in the ring throwing haymaker after haymaker, and it's not necessarily shot making, it's the efforts.

"I don't know how long it would take me to go through the autopsy of this final game, but I would say that it will probably rank as our hardest, competitive, most active defensive game of the season, and it still fell short.

"You have to tip your hat to them. They are one hell of a basketball team. They play the right way, they compete, they are well-coached and they have a strong culture. 

"So for this season, they deserve this."

Jokic capped a sensational postseason by sparking Denver's comeback from a 10-point second-quarter deficit. The Serbian star finished with 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting along with 16 rebounds. 

Butler ended with 21 points for Miami, while Bam Adebayo compiled 20 points and 12 rebounds but managed just two points in the second half.

Center Adebayo echoed the pride of Butler and Spoelstra when he looked at what had been achieved.

"You take the experience of this season, and if you can just bottle that up and everybody just have their own portion or rewritten story of it, the No. 1 thing, I think, would be will," he said. 

"So looking forward, I think this is one of my favourite teams I've ever been a part of because we willed our way through ups and downs.

"We willed our way through the things that people said we couldn't do."

Newcastle midfielder Joelinton has revealed he received racist messages following last month’s Premier League defeat to Arsenal.

The 26-year-old spoke about the subject while on international duty with Brazil, saying “many things need to be changed”.

Newcastle were beaten 2-0 by the Gunners at St James’ Park on May 7.

“It’s an important moment to speak about racism,” Joelinton told a press conference. “We have been talking about it for a long time.

“Still, many things need to be changed. We talk about a combat against racism but we didn’t have much of a change.

“This (racism) is not something happening now, but for a long time.

“And, in the 21st century, we still see things like that. It’s hard to accept and believe that we are evolving when things like that still happen.”

Asked if he had suffered racist abuse, the player replied: “Not on the pitch, no.

“But after that match against Arsenal playing at home, I have received some messages with racist insults. But it’s gone, it didn’t affect me.”

Joelinton, who is in line to win his first cap for his country in upcoming friendlies against Guinea and Senegal, received a message of support from his club.

A post on Newcastle’s official Twitter account read: “There is no room for racism. Anywhere. We’re with you, Joe.”

Great State will aim to extend his winning run this weekend when he heads to Sandown for the Scurry Stakes.

Richard Fahey’s three-year-old has won four of his last five and is unbeaten since dropping back to five furlongs in March – winning at both Southwell and Thirsk, before stepping up to Listed company in the Westow Stakes at York last month.

The son of Havana Grey handled the rise in grade with aplomb, readily winning by two and a half lengths, and he will now bid for more big-race success over the minimum distance at the Esher track on Saturday where once again Oisin Murphy will be in the saddle.

“He’s an improving horse and we’re pleased with him,” said Fahey.

“I thought it was a good performance winning the handicap against older horses at Thirsk, he picked up well and then came on for it and it was no surprise he stepped up at York and did it very well. He’s improving.

“You would imagine the track and everything (at Sandown) will suit him. Oisin Murphy rides him as my Oisin (Orr) will be at York.”

Rob Page says Wrexham striker Paul Mullin will be considered for Wales selection if he scores regularly in League Two.

Liverpool-born Mullin qualifies for the Dragons through his Welsh-born grandmother and has said he would love to represent Wales on the international stage.

The 28-year-old has scored 78 goals in two seasons at Wrexham – helping the club owned by Hollywood actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds back into the English Football League – and won the 2022-23 FA Cup Golden Ball as the competition’s top scorer.

Mullin’s eligibility has been a big talking point among Wales supporters with many keen to see him given a senior call, but manager Page was reluctant to select someone plying his trade in the fifth tier of English football.

“Forget what he’s done up until now,” Page said ahead of Friday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Armenia in Cardiff.

“If he is playing in League Two and he’s scoring goals, then we will look at him and consider him. But there is a massive gap from where he’s been up to League Two.

“We will keep monitoring him and if he keeps scoring goals as he goes up the levels he’ll prove himself.”

Mullin has already shone in League Two and won the division’s Golden Boot with a 32-goal season in Cambridge’s 2020–21 promotion campaign.

He enhanced his reputation further in the FA Cup this term with nine goals, three of which came against Championship pair Coventry and Sheffield United.

Page said: “I watched him against Sheffield United and I was very impressed by him, just from a work rate point of view.

“I wouldn’t want to play against him, he’s a pain in the backside.

“Forget his goalscoring and his eye for goal, I like him because he’s a pain to play against. He’s like a rat, and I want that.”

Page admits Wales need to sharpen their attacking play for games against Armenia and Turkey after collecting four points from their opening two Euro 2024 qualifiers in March.

Brennan Johnson and David Brooks have returned to the squad after missing the 1-1 draw in Croatia and the 1-0 home win over Latvia.

“While I was happy with the Latvia performance and how we controlled the game, that final detail at the top of the pitch is where we need to improve,” Page said.

“Having Brennan back fit, and Daniel James, Harry Wilson and David available is only going to help us achieve that.

“With the personnel we’ve got we can have two or three different formations without any problem.

“The game plan might change within a game, but having players like Brennan will give us the opportunity to get higher up the pitch and score more goals.

“We’ve got some good players and the problem now is finding out how to get them all into the same team.”

England will attempt to end a miserable past few years in the Women’s Ashes and topple Australia for the first time since 2013-14 when the multi-format series starts next week.

Here, the PA news agency assesses some of the burning issues ahead of the curtain-raising one-off Test at Trent Bridge which begins next Thursday.

The greatest show

Heather Knight recently harked back to making her England debut in Mumbai in 2010 “in front of one man and his dog” and, as a student, having to explain to her tutor why she would be absent for a month. Thankfully those days are over. The England captain was given equal billing alongside men’s counterpart Ben Stokes on a Tower Bridge projection last week and ticket sales for the ‘WAshes’ have already exceeded a combined 70,000 for the seven matches. Even if there is still just a solitary Test, it will span five days in a break from the customary four-day affair – giving both teams a chance to claim a first Ashes win in whites since 2015. Barriers continue to be breached for Knight’s side as they will also play T20s at Edgbaston, the Kia Oval and Lord’s for the first time.

Lanning absence evens the odds?

Issy Wong may have only played on 13 occasions for England but the fast bowler seems to revel in being tormentor-in-(mis)chief, remarking last month about Australia: “It’s a pretty good time to play them.” On the surface, this seems a peculiar comment given Australia’s all-out dominance for much of the last decade. They are the double world champions and have held the urn for the last eight years, beating England on their own patch twice in that time. But there is a little substance to Wong’s claims with Rachael Haynes retiring last year and now totemic captain Meg Lanning withdrawing from the upcoming series due to medical issues. Are Australia more vulnerable now? Unquestionably. Lanning is an exceptional captain and batter who has been in red-hot form. But her temporary successor Alyssa Healy is also a quality player, as are Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner and Jess Jonassen. Australia are still overwhelming favourites to continue their stranglehold over England.

Who is the leader of England’s attack?

While Wong’s slightly provocative observation was rooted in Australia selecting one or two more unproven talents, England also look a little light in certain areas. Katherine Sciver-Brunt may have had a peripheral role given her scaling back of commitments but the seamer’s retirement robs England of crucial experience. Wong has shown in the last 12 months she can step up and be counted when the heat is on – notably at this year’s Women’s Premier League – so it may be the 21-year-old steps into the considerable void left by Sciver-Brunt. Fellow quick Kate Cross’ battle against a tropical disease has cut into her playing time so she may not be up to speed for the Test while Lauren Bell is relatively untested.

‘Jonball’ faces its acid test

Since succeeding Lisa Keightley as England head coach late last year, Jon Lewis has attempted to instil a more attacking mindset into his charges. Lewis has taken his cues from working alongside Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes in the embryonic stages of the pair transforming the men’s Test side, sensing this is the best way to break Australia’s stranglehold on women’s cricket. ‘Jonball’ – the term coined by star all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt – has had modest returns so far with a semi-final exit at the 2023 T20 World Cup but it seems England will keep ploughing the same furrow when Australia are in town.

Pressure on Heather?

The decision to jettison Charlotte Edwards and promote Knight as England captain a little over seven years ago was controversial at the time. But barely 12 months into the role, Knight justified her ascension by leading England to a seminal World Cup triumph. She has been unable to land a telling blow in the Ashes, with one drawn series and two heavy points defeats. A third this summer might draw scrutiny on her position even if Australia are one of the greatest sides of all time in women’s sport. Knight remains the natural leader of this England team and her authoritative presence was missed at the sharp end of last year’s Commonwealth Games, a tournament she sat out because of injury.

Jamal Murray is confident there is more to come from the Denver Nuggets after the franchise's first NBA Finals success.

The Nuggets beat the Miami Heat 94-89 on Monday to secure a 4-1 series win, ending their wait for a championship.

Nikola Jokic, who was named the Finals MVP, starred with 28 points and 16 rebounds, while Murray added 14 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.

After losing Game 2 at home, Denver bounced back with two dominant victories in Miami before rounding off their triumph back in Colorado, and Murray had few doubts the Nuggets would get the job done.

"I knew once we were healthy, we could do it," Murray told ESPN. "So this [championship] was long overdue. I think this is the first of many.

"We clearly can do it, so let's do it again."

There was a similar sentiment from Denver coach Michael Malone, who wants to turn a championship into a dynasty.

He told reporters: "Pat Riley said something many years ago. I used to have it up on my board when I was a head coach in Sacramento.

"It talked about the evolution in this game and how you go from a nobody to an upstart, and you go from an upstart to a winner, and a winner to a contender, and a contender to a champion, and the last step after a champion, is to be a dynasty.

"So we're not satisfied. We accomplished something this franchise has never done before, but we have a lot of young talented players in that locker room, and I think we just showed through 16 playoff wins what we're capable of on the biggest stage in the world."

Two-time NBA MVP Jokic was the star of the show all season for the Nuggets.

The 28-year-old tallied 600 points, 269 rebounds and 190 assists in the postseason. It is the first time any player in the history of the NBA had reached those numbers across a 20-game span (including both regular-season and postseason games).

Jokic also became the first player in NBA history to have 25+ points and 15+ rebounds on 75 per cent shooting in a championship-clinching win.

"The job is done, and we can go home now," Jokic said.

Lewis Hamilton’s Formula One future could be resolved as early as before this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Hamilton has six months to run on his £40million-a-season deal with Mercedes, but team principal Toto Wolff said his superstar driver is on the brink of agreeing new terms.

“It is going to happen soon, and we are talking more days than weeks,” Wolff told CNBC’s Squawk on the Street programme in New York when asked about Hamilton’s contract negotiations.

“We are trying hard [to get it done before the Canadian Grand Prix]. I will see him today and maybe we will talk about it.

“We have such a good relationship that we dread the moment that we need to talk about money.”

Hamilton, 38, met with Wolff the day after the last round in Spain in the hope of rubber-stamping a fresh contract with the Silver Arrows.

It is anticipated that the British driver’s extension will be a multi-year deal, extending his stay in F1 beyond his 40th birthday.

“Lewis is the most important personality in the sport,” added Wolff.

“He is so multi-faceted, not only with the racing, but also off track, so we need to keep him in the sport for as long as possible.

“From a team’s perspective, Lewis and Mercedes have gone back a long time. He has never raced for any other brand than Mercedes.

“We both joined the team in 2013 together, and from a professional relationship, we now have a friendship. It has been a wonderful time.”

Hamilton, who has not won a race since his contentious championship defeat to Max Verstappen at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi, is already 83 points off the title pace this year.

But Mercedes’ recent upturn in form has provided Hamilton, who finished runner-up to Red Bull’s Verstappen at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, with renewed hope that his dream of a record eighth world title is not over.

However, Wolff warned: “The result in Spain was a well-deserved reward for everyone’s efforts at Brackley and Brixworth to bring our update package to the track.

“We were pleased with how it performed, and it will provide a new baseline for us to build from.

“But we must also manage our expectations. It was a circuit that suited our car, and we should expect our direct competitors to be stronger in the next races.

“The gap to Red Bull is large and it will take lots of hard work to close that down. Nevertheless, we’re up for the challenge.”

England captain Ben Stokes says he will not make allowances for Australia and change his style for the Ashes as that would render all the progress of the last year “completely pointless”.

The so-called ‘Bazball’ revolution has seen the Test side flourish under the leadership of the all-rounder in partnership with coach and former New Zealand international Brendon McCullum, with the team having claimed 11 wins in 13 matches.

Edgbaston hosts the opening Ashes Test on Friday and Stokes said despite the history between the two sides, the quality of the opposition and what was at stake, he would not deviate from their attacking game-plan against the newly crowned World Test Championship winners.

“Nothing is going to change because we’ve had unbelievable success with it,” Stokes, who said his priority was to make everything “fun”, told BBC Test Match Special.

“If we were to change anything from the last 12 months because we find ourselves in an Ashes series then anything from the last 12 months will have been completely pointless.”

“Even before getting together as a Test team for the first time with me as captain, there was one simple thing I said I had to be doing and that was being completely true to myself.

“I had to stay true to how I’ve gone about things as a player, and do them as a captain. I had 85 or 86 games before I got made captain, and the guys that I’ve played with knew me as a person and a player.

“So if I became captain and started doing things completely differently to what they knew me for, it would raise a few eyebrows.”

What the papers say

Arsenal are closing in on signing West Ham captain Declan Rice and are expected to pay more than £100m for the 24-year-old England midfielder, the Guardian reports. The move will make Rice the most expensive player in the Gunners’ history.

The same paper says Pep Guardiola is firmly minded to leave Manchester City in two years when his contract expires. The 52-year-old manager will reportedly end his tenure in summer 2025 after nine years at the helm of the treble winners.

Elsewhere, the Evening Standard says Chelsea are planning to step up their pursuit of Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana after his impressive display in the Champions League Final. The Italian club is understood to want at least £50million for the 27-year-old Cameroon international.

And Newcastle are preparing to make a bid for Wolfsburg midfielder Felix Nmecha as they look to start their summer recruitment. Telegraph Sport says the Magpies have been tracking the 22-year-old Germany international for several months.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Mason Mount: Sky Sports reports Manchester United are continuing talks with Chelsea about the 24-year-old but there is still a gap in valuation between the two clubs for him.

Harry Kane: Sky Sports also says the Red Devils are unlikely to make a move for the 29-year-old Tottenham striker as Spurs do not want to sell the England captain.

The Denver Nuggets have won their first NBA championship with a 94-89 victory over the Miami Heat in game five of the NBA finals.

In a back-and-forth affair, the Nuggets were able to hold off a late rally from Miami and claim the Larry O’Brien trophy in front of their home fans.

Nikola Jokic again led the way for Denver with 28 points, while Jimmy Butler finished with 21 after a late flurry brought the Heat agonisingly close to forcing a game six back in Miami.

Some early struggles from deep gave the Heat a seven-point lead at half-time, but Denver clamped down defensively in the second half and held Miami to just 38 points over the final two quarters.

Eight-straight points and a pair of clutch free throws from Butler put the Heat back in front by one with less than two minutes remaining, but the visitors were ultimately unable to claw their way back again after Denver’s Bruce Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and tip-in.

Kylian Mbappe has told Paris St Germain he will not take up a one-year contract extension, according to reports, so could be sold this summer or will be able to leave as a free agent at the end of next season.

The 24-year-old, signed from Monaco for £160million in 2018 which was a world-record fee for a teenager, continues to be linked with a move to Real Madrid.

According to reports, France World Cup winner Mbappe left the PSG hierarchy stunned by the decision which was presented in a formal letter and follows on from Lionel Messi announcing his departure to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami.

PSG now appear set to have to weigh up whether to sell Mbappe – who scored a hat-trick in France’s defeat by Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final – or see him leave the club for nothing at the end of his current deal in June 2024.

Reports in France had suggested PSG were hopeful over an extension to Mbappe’s contract.

However, Real Madrid could now step up their interest as they look to bolster the forward line after veteran Karim Benzema’s move to Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.