The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, made most Manchester United fans dream of a long-awaited new era at Old Trafford by joking about his intention of buying the embattled Premier League club.
Since 2013 when the club’s legendary football manager, Sir Alex Ferguson retired and exited the club, Manchester United has been a complete shadow of its former self despite over £1.5 billion investment in the club’s squad.
The club’s board had tried different coaches including the legendary Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, and Ralf Rangnick in an attempt to return the club to reckoning, all to no avail.
From 2013 to date, the biggest trophy Manchester United have won is the Europa League under the reign of Jose Mourinho in 2017. Since then, the Red Devils have managed to play in the final of the tournament once.
After investing heavily to bring in prized players like Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane, and the great Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford, Manchester United went on to record one of the worst seasons in the club’s history in the 2021-2022 Premier League campaign. They finished in a distance 6th spot which means that they are not qualified for this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign. They will compete in Europe’s second-tier league, Europa League.
Due to this development, Cristiano Ronaldo has been trying everything possible to exit the club this summer to a club that can offer him Champions League football.
Amidst that, Manchester United started the 2022-2023 Premier League campaign embarrassingly. They lost their opening match against lowly rated Brighton at Old Trafford. In their second game of the season, Brentford stunned the Red Devils 4-0. This means that the club’s new coach Erik ten Hag is yet to taste victory in the Premier League since his arrival.
The shambolic performance of Manchester United which is valued at $4.6billion by Forbes has increased the club’s fans’ agitation against the reign of the club’s owners, the Glazers family. The fans believe that the Glazers have not invested in the club wisely and that the American family has been taking money from the club in a discriminatory manner.
Is Elon Musk planning to buy Manchester United?
Amidst the performance crisis at Manchester United, Elon Musk took to his Twitter on Tuesday night, August 16, 2022, to share a tweet announcing his intention to buy the troubled club.
The 51-year-old South African-born American billionaire who is worth around $242 billion as of July 25, 2022, according to Forbes, claimed in his tweet that he supports “half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!”
As a follow-up to the tweet, Elon Musk added: “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome”.
The tweet excited so many Manchester United fans that within hours, the tweet generated over 40,000 comments, 142,000 retweets, and 586,000 likes.
Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022
Hours after the tweet had gone viral, a Twitter handle bearing the name of one of his companies, Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, asked Musk whether he was serious about buying Manchester United. Elon Musk responded: “No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams.”
No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022
This means that Manchester United fans are still stuck with the club’s current owners, the Glazers family, as Musk has made it clear that he is not planning to buy any sports team.
However, the good news is that Elon Musk has declared that if he has to buy a sports team, it would be Manchester United because he was a supporter of the Premier League club when he was young.
“Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid”, Elon Musk tweeted.
Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022
Below are some hilarious reactions to Elon Musk’s joke about buying Manchester United
Who is Elon Musk?
The full name of Elon Musk is Elon Reeve Musk. He was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971, to a Canadian-born mother.
Elon Musk is a South African by birth, a Canadian, and is more known as an American citizen who is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer of SpaceX; CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; and founder of The Boring Company and X.com (now part of PayPal).
Musk is also the co-founder of Neuralink, OpenAI, and Zip2; and the President of the Musk Foundation.
Musk has been in two marriages. He was married to Justine Wilson from 2000 to 2008, then married Talulah Riley from 2010 to 2012, and then from 2013 to 2016.
Musk is currently dating Grimes, a 34-year-old Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. They have been dating since 2018. The world’s richest man is currently blessed with ten children from different women.
Recently, Elon Musk who currently has 103.4 million followers on Twitter paid a whopping $44bn to buy the platform. After the celebrated deal, the billionaire started making effort to halt the deal which has proven almost impossible for him to date.
