Elon Musk says he was joking about buying Manchester United

Musk, the richest person in the world, has a history of making irreverent tweets, and it was not immediately clear whether he planned to pursue a deal

Billionaire Elon Musk was joking when he said he was going to buy English soccer club Manchester United, the entrepreneur said on Twitter on Wednesday.

"No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams," Musk said, when asked by a user if he was serious about buying the club.

Musk, the world's richest person, on Tuesday tweeted that he was buying football club Manchester United Plc, without offering any details. "I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome," Musk said in a tweet. The Manchester United Plc team is controlled by the American Glazer family.

Musk has a history of being unconventional and making irreverent tweets.

British newspaper The Daily Mirror reported last year that the Glazers were prepared to sell the club but only if they were offered in excess of 4 billion pounds.($4.84 billion)

Musk is currently 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 world's best supported football clubs. They have been champions of England a record 20 times and have won the European Cup, the most prestigious club competition in the global game, three times.

Dissatisfaction among fans at the Glazers' perceived lack of ambition to bring in top players intensified after the club finished sixth in the English Premier League last season, while crosstown rivals Manchester City won a second successive title.

The football club had a market capitalisation of $2.08 billion, as of Tuesday's stock market close.

Manchester United fans have in recent years protested against the Glazers, who bought the club for 790 million pounds ($955.51 million) in 2005, due to the team's struggles on the pitch.

The anti-Glazer movement gained momentum last year after United were involved in a failed attempt to form a breakaway European Super League.

Some fans have urged Musk to buy Manchester United instead of buying Twitter.

Musk has a history of unconventional actions and comments, making it difficult sometimes to tell when he is joking.

His ambitions range from colonising Mars to creating a new sustainable energy economy, and in the process he has built the most valuable car company in the world, electric vehicle maker Tesla, rocket company SpaceX, and a slew of smaller firms. One is a tunnel maker called the Boring Company.

Musk has appeared to smoke marijuana in a podcast and fought US regulators over his comments about his plans for Tesla, including an abandoned effort to take it private.

Forbes estimates his fortune at $270 billion.

($1=0.8268 pounds)