“I’m buying Manchester United” – World’s richest man, Elon Musk; Nigerians react

The Red Devils are not the dominant force they once were in England and on the continent, but succour may finally be on the way

Billionaire investor and entrepreneur Elon Musk has revealed his intention to buy Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world.

Founded in 1878 but known as Manchester United since 1902, the club is currently owned by the Glazer family.

With 20 League titles, three UEFA Champions League, 12 FA Cups, and several other domestic and continental honours, United are unarguably the most successful club in England.

And with tens of millions of fans spread across the face and corners of the earth, Manchester United are among the most widely supported football clubs in the world.

But the Red Devils are presently a shadow of their glorious past.

United have not won a major title since their UEFA Europa League triumph in 2017. The Red Devils last lifted the Premier League title in 2013, nearly ten years ago.

And for a club that lifted six league titles in the previous decade, their current barren run has disillusioned fans.

Many supporters have called for the current American owner to sell the club to a more success-driven buyer.

Their prayers may, however, be close to being answered as Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, has indicated an interest in buying United.

Making the announcement on Twitter, Musk simply wrote: “I’m buying Manchester United.”

It is an interesting prospect as a union between Musk, widely regarded as the wealthiest person in the world, and United, the world’s wealthiest club, can only bring to reality lofty dreams.

Follow-up tweets from Mr. Musk have, however, shown that the billionaire carmaker was only joking about buying United.

Nigerians react

Not aware that Elon Musk was kidding at the time, many people – including Nigerians – reacted to his post on buying Manchester United.

Even then, a few Nigerian commentators did not take Musk, who made a similar move to buy Twitter but reneged, seriously.

One Twitter user, Malik, humorously asked Musk to buy ASUU instead.

ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) is currently on a six-month-long strike that has kept millions of Nigerian undergraduates out of school.

Another Nigerian fan, Abuja boy, believes Musk may have just made United fans emotional.

 

One supporter thinks Musk’s intervention could trigger a United come-back.

51-year-old Musk, founder and CEO at SpaceX, reportedly has a net worth of 264.7 billion dollars. Man United, though, have an estimated value of 4.6 billion dollars.