RIVAL bidders are waiting in the wings to buy City if Gianni Paladini’s takeover fails to go through.

The Telegraph & Argus understands that the club have received several other approaches since news of Paladini’s interest became public.

The Italian currently has an exclusivity agreement with the board, which prevents them from talking to anyone else during that period. It is believed that expires tomorrow.

Should Paladini ask for more time, City may be willing to extend it by a few weeks if they feel that genuine progress is being made. If not, they would then be free to pull the plug and listen to others.

It is clear that talk of Paladini coming in has alerted them of the potential at Valley Parade.

But should City start afresh with another suitor, it would be very unlikely that a deal would happen this summer because of the time involved with starting from scratch with due diligence.

Mark Lawn reluctantly admitted earlier this week that he and co-owner Julian Rhodes could not afford to fund City if they made it up to the Championship.

Paladini met them at the club on Tuesday with his legal team before Lawn took him to look at the training ground. The players had finished by that point but it is understood he was introduced to Phil Parkinson.

The club want a decision from the former QPR chairman before the end of May so that they know where they stand in preparing for next season.

But the T&A have been told that the takeover discussions will not hold up season-ticket plans or talks about player contracts.

There has been growing concern among fans about the delay in a ticket announcement. But prices are currently being finalised – and are not expected to be far off the current ones – and a season-ticket launch should take place next week.

Rhodes is also due to sit down with Phil Parkinson and chief scout Tim Breacker today to discuss potential summer targets.

Rhodes said: “Takeover or no takeover, we are in a strong position going into next season. We’ve got the surplus from this year to add to the budget even if the takeover doesn’t happen.”

Meanwhile, City have offered first pro deals to four second-year scholars.

Dylan Mottley-Henry, who made his first-team debut this year, is being kept on as well as James King, youth team player of the year Sam Wright and Joe Brennan.