Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has already joked about buying Manchester United amid reports he's now serious about launching a bid to purchase the Old Trafford giants.
It was confirmed in November that the much-maligned Glazer family are prepared to sell United after their 17 years in charge. A deadline to make an offer is fast-approaching.
Musk, 51, has amassed a staggering £157billion wealth through tech-based businesses and is best known as the CEO of Tesla - the innovative US automotive company. He bought social media platform Twitter last year for $44billion and also founded SpaceX.
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According to Forbes rankings, Musk is currently the second richest person on the planet - while only a select few such as him could finance and maintain a full takeover from the Glazer family. Mail Online reports indicate Musk is monitoring the ongoing ownership situation at Old Trafford.
Other prospective buyers are understood to include several parties from Saudi Arabia and Sir Jim Ratcliffe; the British billionaire who was born and raised in the Manchester area and grew up supporting United. He gave the green light with regards to his interest in January.
But how serious is Musk when it comes to rivalling that and other approaches?
Speaking about the club this season, the 51-year-old joked about buying United at the time when supporters continued their protests against the Glazer regime with a pre-game march before their victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford. He did, though, quickly perform a U-turn.
Following up a political tweet he posted about American parties, he said: "Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur [you're] welcome." It naturally attracted widespread attention on social media and beyond.
His post garnered 868,000-plus likes and more than 115,000 retweets. However, a few hours later the Pretoria-born billionaire poured cold water on would-be interest. When asked by a Tesla fan account if he was actually serious, Musk said: "No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any sports teams..."
Musk has, as yet, not directly addressed his reported interest this time around.
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