He said it was a joke, but if Elon Musk (or anyone) wanted to buy Manchester United, how much would it cost?

Does Cristiano Ronaldo want to leave Manchester United?

1:09

(CNN Spanish) --

Elon Musk did it again: an offer to buy a big company, but then he backed down.

Only this time he made it clear that it was a joke.

Musk, who is the world's richest person, said on Twitter on Wednesday that he was going to buy the English soccer club Manchester United, but later said no, he will not buy "any sports equipment."

Only hours earlier he had said he would buy the English soccer club, but did not offer any details.

And Manchester United fans, who are currently unhappy with the lack of results in the league, had previously urged Musk on Twitter to consider buying the club.

And because Musk has a history of being offbeat and irreverent tweeting, he sometimes makes it hard to tell when he's joking.

Now, if Musk were encouraged to buy the English club, how much should the check be?

Here some mathematics of the value of the club in the market.

advertising

• Christian Eriksen signs for Manchester United just over a year after his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020

How much does Manchester United cost in the market?

Manchester United is one of the most famous names in world football but is currently in a sporting crisis amid angry calls from fans for the club's current owners, the American Glazer family, to step down.

United may not have won a trophy since 2017, but according to Forbes, the club's value as of May 2022 was $4.6bn.

The team's earnings in the 2020-21 season were $663 million, according to Forbes, and its earnings from utilities amounted to $128 million.

The reality is that this team has not been good enough for a number of years and the club is in a perpetual state of failed rebuilding.

Since 2012, United's net spending is 1.075 million euros ($1.18 billion).

The club paid 1.545 million euros ($1.7 billion) in transfers and received 470 million euros ($516 million) in player sales, according to a study published by the Swiss-based independent research group CIES Football Observatory. .

The team that has been built is undoubtedly talented, but has lacked an identity since the departure of manager Alex Ferguson in 2013.

• Cristiano Ronaldo's options look slim as transfer speculation intensifies

Ronaldo is a substitute in United's debut 0:29

Who are the owners of Manchester United?

Since 2005, Manchester United has been owned by the Glazers, a wealthy American family that also owns the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But the family has never really won over the fans of the English club, one of the biggest in the world.

"After sixteen years, no member of the Glazer family has even had a conversation with us," the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), a group of more than 200,000 supporters of the club, said in a statement in May 2021.

United fans' discontent with the Glazers intensified after six of England's top clubs signed up in April last year to join the failed European Super League (ESL), a multi-million dollar competition consisting of 12 of the teams. most important in European football.

Manchester United was one of the 12 clubs.

When the Glazer family took over the club, fans who spoke to CNN feared it would go into debt and that the family was solely interested in its brand, rivaled only by Real Madrid, and revenue.

Manchester United was a debt-free club before the Glazers bought the team.

According to the latest club accounts published on 4 March 2021, the club's net debt is $630.7m (£455.5m).

In December 2019, before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the club's net debt had reached $283.16m (£203.6m).

The Glazers targeted a net investment of $240.3 million (€200 million) in player acquisitions between 2019 and 2021, more than any other major European club.

It has added more than 1,081 million dollars (900 million euros) since 2013.

And out of favor with Manchester fans, United fans have for several years pleaded with the Glazer family to sell it, believing that the Americans' top priority is making money, with success on the pitch a distant second. place.

Palmarés and other data

Since Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013, Manchester United have won just three trophies: the FA Cup under Van Gaal in 2016, and the League Cup and Europa League under José Mourinho the following year, but none of the major awards. important soccer.

United last won the Premier League nine years ago.

The English team, which plays in the Premier League, the first division of English football, has been English champion 20 times.

It has 33 signed players, of which 60% are foreigners, according to data updated to August 2022.

Among the most outstanding players are the Portuguese Bruno Fernandes, an attacking midfielder, whose market value is 85 million euros, according to TransferMarkt;

and Jadon Sancho, whose market value is around 75 million euros.

Also in the squad is the Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, whose future in international football is uncertain.

Its stadium is Old Trafford in England with a capacity for almost 75,000 spectators.

Manchester, which is based in the north of England, has more than 32 million followers on its main Twitter account and when Musk talked about buying the club, he jokingly got almost 400,000 likes on the platform. in four hours.

-- With information from Matias Grez, Ben Morse, CNN's Ben Church, and Reuters. 

Elon Musk Manchester United