The takeover battle for Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) is far from over, as Malcolm Glazer has again increased his share in the world’s richest football club.

The US-based sports tycoon, who owns the American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers, snapped up a further 1.27 million shares in the club on Monday, taking his overall holding in the club to 28.11 per cent.

Glazer now owns 73.7 million shares in MUFC and is closing in on the current majority shareholders, John Magnier and J P MacManus, who share a 28.9 per cent stake in the club.

Should Glazer lift his investment above 30 per cent, he would be forced by UK law to launch a formal takeover bid for the rest of the shares.

Following the latest trading, which saw Glazer pay 285 pence per share, MUFC has announced that Legal & General no longer has a sizeable interest in the issued share capital.

Glazer bought his first shares in MUFC back in March 2003, following an unsuccessful bid for the American baseball team Los Angeles Dodgers.