Man Utd sent Elon Musk warning by former Premier League club owner

Manchester United must be “be careful” amid claims Elon Musk is monitoring the Glazers’ sale of the club, according to Simon Jordan.

The Mail Online claimed that the eccentric tech-billionaire, who Forbes rank as the second richest person in the world, is “monitoring the situation” at Man Utd and “wondering if there is an opportunity at Old Trafford”.

The club’s current owners, the Glazer family, announced in November they were exploring “strategic alternatives” which could result in an outright sale.

Since then, American banking firm the Raine Group has set a soft deadline of February 17 for prospective buyers to place their initial bids.

While British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe is currently the only party to have placed a public declaration for the Old Trafford club, a Qatari bid will allegedly be submitted before Friday.

The Glazers reportedly want around £5billion for the Man Utd, and while associates of Musk refused to comment on the Mail Online’s report concerning the Twitter owners’ alleged interest, sources close to the deal are said to be aware of his attention.

Simon Jordan warns Man Utd over Musk

Former Crystal Palace owner Jordan warned Man Utd fans that Elon Musk would merely be after “influence” should he launch a bid for the club.

Speaking on TalkSPORT Jordan claimed: “Be careful with Elon Musk, while I think he is a brilliant man, he is after influence.

“Twitter is influence, it is social media and influence in controlling the way people think.

“Owning a football club supplements that way of thinking too. Be careful of what you wish for when you get these types of people involved.

“They are not always straight line thinking going behind what they want to do or benefit to others.

“I have always felt it is likely that an American ownership model would come in.”

Last summer the Tesla owner, who boasts an estimated fortune of £157billion, sent Twitter into meltdown by claiming he wanted to buy Man Utd.

The 51-year-old tweeted: "To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party! Also, I'm buying Manchester United [you’re] welcome - Elon Musk."

After just six hours the tweet generated more than 500,000 likes, only for the South African to clarify: "No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any sports teams.

"Although, if it were any team, it would be Man Utd. They were my [favourite] team as a kid."

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Qatar, Premier League, Simon Jordan

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.