Elon Musk tweets he is ‘buying Manchester United'

Elon Musk said he is buying English football club Manchester United in a thread joking about his political allegiances.

The billionaire tech entrepreneur flagged the purchase in a short tweet on Tuesday, though it is unclear whether his statement was meant as a joke.

Musk, 51, tweeted to his 103 million followers: “To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!"

He added: “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome.”

Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome

The post quickly garnered a lot of attention, receiving almost 54,000 retweets and over 300,000 likes within a couple of hours.

It comes following the Tesla founder’s ongoing lawsuit with Twitter after he backed out of a 44 billion dollar (£36.3 billion) deal to buy the social media platform.

Last week it was revealed that Musk had sold nearly seven billion US dollars (£5.8 billion) of shares in Tesla ahead of legal battle, which is scheduled for October.

The team is controlled by the American Glazer family. Neither the family nor Musk immediately responded to a request for comment.

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 ($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.

Tesla chief Elon Musk and his children Damian, Kai, Saxon and Griffin meet Pope Francis in July at the Vatican.