South African-born mega-billionaire Elon Musk sent the internet into a frenzy when, in a tweet, he mockingly claimed he was going to purchase Manchester United Football Club.
Elon Musk was joking about buying Manchester United
Musk, who has unfinished business with Twitter, caused pandemonium on the ‘blue bird’ platform when, in response to his tweet about supporting “the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party,” he casually put it that he was buying Man Utd.
At the time this article was published, the tweet, posted at 01:56 on Wednesday, had garnered more than 600k engagements. However, much to the disappointment of desperate Manchurians who would want nothing more than the once-glorious football club transferred out of the hands of the American Glazer family, Musk was joking.
In a follow-up tweet, Musk made it clear that standup is his side-hustle, mockingly discounting his claims of purchasing Man Utd as pure comedy.
Could Musk afford to buy Man Utd?
Jokes aside, Musk’s tweet exposed the pains Man Utd fans are enduring in European football, on and off the field. In the first two Matchday weeks of the 2022/23 Premier League season, the 13-time champions languish at the bottom of the table with no points, and only one goal registered thus far.
Unrest in the dressing room, possibly caused by tensions in Cristiano Ronaldo‘s desperate attempts to leave in this transfer window, has made life hard for head coach Erik Ten Hag at the start of his tenure.
Faced with mounting pressure from fans who last witnessed glory at Old Trafford in 2017 with Jose Mourinho in the Europa League, the Glazers have, according to Reuters, welcomed the notion of selling the club.
However, at this juncture, it’s believed the family wants nothing less than $4.8 billion (est. R78.9 billion). Apart from Musk’s tweets, there has yet to be formal interest in a Man Utd takeover, but in a perfect world, if, let’s say, Musk had a change of heart, would he actually afford to purchase the third most valuable club in Europe?
According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth sits at about $270 billion. The short answer? – Yes, Musk could easily assume Man Utd as his latest asset, but the sale would most likely come with a great deal of negotiation.
While Forbes speculates Man Utd’s net worth to be worth $4.6 billion, the club’s shares on the New York stock exchange slid 25% in the past year, bringing its valuation down to a little over $2 billion.
As things stand, however, Musk has greater priorities than coming to the aid of a football club in turmoil.