A financial consortium headed by former England striker Gary Lineker has submitted a bid to Leicester's administrators which could secure the future of the club.
Deloitte & Touche confirmed they had received a bid towards the end of last week and Greg Clarke, the club's former plc chairman, revealed it was from the Lineker team.
Clarke has been working with Lineker and other local people keen to help the cash-strapped Division One side, but he refused to go into financial details.
It is believed, however, the consortium is willing to pay £4million now and a further £1million in April.
However, if the club missed out on promotion back to the Premiership at the end of the season they would be looking for another cash injection.
Clarke said: "There is a consortium of Leicester people led by Gary Lineker who have submitted a bid to the administrators.
"It is a very positive bid which, if successful, will secure the future of the football club and allow Micky Adams to keep his team together.
"We hope to get some positive feedback from the administrators this week and if it is accepted then we hope to be able to buy the club by the end of December.
"There are about 30 local people who contributed to the bid and I think it's the right way to ensure local ownership."
City went into administration at the end of October with debts believed to be around £30million.
The club needs to slash the wage bill by 20% and the players have agreed to defer a percentage of their income.