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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Sport
Asharq Al-Awsat

Elon Musk Tweets 'I'm Buying Manchester United'

Elon Musk gestures during a conversation in Los Angeles, California, US, June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Elon Musk, the world's richest person, on Tuesday tweeted that he was buying English soccer club Manchester United Plc, without offering any details.

Musk has a history of being unconventional and posting irreverent tweets. It was not immediately clear whether he planned to pursue a deal to acquire Manchester United.

Only four months after announcing he would buy Twitter , Musk is now trying to exit a $44 billion agreement to buy the social media company, which has taken him to court.

Manchester United is one of the most famous names in world soccer but is currently in crisis on the field amid angry calls from fans for the club's current owners, the American Glazer family, to pull out.

"I'm buying Manchester United ur (sic) welcome," Musk said in a tweet. The northern England-based team has more than 32 million followers on its main Twitter account and Musk's tweet had garnered nearly 320,000 'likes' on the platform within three hours.

Musk's post was a follow-on comment to a previous tweet: "To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!" Left half and right half are soccer lineup positions.

According to Reuters, some disgruntled United fans had previously urged Musk to consider buying the club rather than Twitter. In early reactions on Tuesday, some users mockingly compared Musk's latest tweet with his run at Twitter, or seemed to consider it no more than a joke, while others expressed hope it was true.

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