Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale made it clear yesterday following his meeting with Ferdinand that he would not be allowed to leave unless the price was right.

United have taken this on board and their second offer will be much closer to Leeds’ £35m (€54m) valuation of their captain and could be in the region of £28m (€43.6m).

This may be enough to persuade Leeds to part with their prized asset, who cost a then British record £18m (€28m) from West Ham in November 2000.

United will make an announcement to the London Stock Exchange if a deal is reached during business hours today.

They were anxious to strike a deal before Leeds fly to China tomorrow for the start of their pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia.

If nothing is agreed today then Ferdinand will be on that flight with the rest of his Leeds team-mates.

United want to avoid this, although this would not necessarily mean the end of the deal as far as they are concerned.

However, the clock is ticking and United boss Alex Ferguson has said if he cannot capture Ferdinand soon, he will look elsewhere for the defensive linchpin which is top of his summer shopping list.

He has been linked with Roberto Ayala, Lilian Thuram and Alessandro Nesta and he could turn his attention to one of them.

Ferdinand’s Israeli agent Pini Zahavi feels the whole deal is in the balance and that it was now up to United to come up with a fee which satisfies Leeds.

He said in the Evening Standard: ‘‘The deal is not yet done and I am not sure it will be done.

‘‘In my opinion the money will now speak. If Manchester pay what they want for him he will go.’’