Former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is poised to launch a £50million takeover bid to purchase Derby County.
The Rams have been in administration since September and are desperately seeking new owners.
The Mirror exclusively revealed back in October that Ashley was weighing up a swoop for the Rams - just days after he had sold Newcastle in a £305m deal.
And it now appears as though the Sports Direct mogul could be on the verge of taking over at Pride Park.
Quantuma, the administrators currently overseeing the sale of the Championship side, have been in advanced talks with Ashley over the past 48 hours, according to The Telegraph - with a preferred bidder set to finally be announced 'imminently'.
JOIN THE DEBATE! Derby fans - how would you feel about Ashley taking over your club? Let us know in the comments here.
Ashley's £50m bid would eclipse the offers made by General Sports Worldwide, a consortium consisting of former Derby chairman Andrew Appleby, former chief executive Sam Rush and ex-Wolves chief Jez Moxey.
The race to buy the stricken club took a tumultuous twist late last month when American businessman Chris Kirchner withdrew his interest after months of talks with Quantuma.
A successful bid would mark a quick return to football for Ashley, who was at the helm on Tyneside for over a decade despite not being universally popular with fans.
Ashley's raid on the Rams makes sense given that Sports Directs headquarters are just a few miles down the road from Pride Park in Shirebrook.
Derby are currently rock bottom of the Championship after being deducted 21 points over the course of the season but are battling admirably under manager Wayne Rooney.
The former Manchester United and England star has overseen a string of excellent results to give the Rams a fighting chance of completing the greatest of great escapes.
But even with Rooney's impact and recent results, Derby are still 11 points adrift of safety.
He recently insisted that for him and his players, the opportunity to drag Derby to the unlikeliest of escapes was a chance for them to 'create history' and to etch their names into club folklore.
“For the players, it’s a chance to create a legacy," Rooney told The Athletic earlier this week.
"It’s a chance to create history. Nobody has ever done it before, from minus 21 points, and stayed up. It’s an opportunity to become heroes with the fans.
"You could argue it would be the greatest achievement in the club’s history.
"There might not be a trophy at the end of the season for us to lift but, if we did stay up, it would be a massive achievement.”
