Elon Musk remains silent as Friday's bidding deadline to buy Man Utd approaches

Elon Musk is keeping his cards close to his chest as to whether he will enter the expecting bidding war to buy Manchester United.

Friday's bidding deadline is edging nearer with Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari investors interested in succeeding the Glazers as the Red Devils' new owners.

Musk, who owns Tesla and Twitter, and is ranked by Forbes as the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of £157bn, is keeping a close eye on proceedings, but is yet to officially throw his hat into the ring.

The tech-billionaire is not known for holding his tongue, and has been active on Twitter over the past 24 hours.

He reached out to his followers to get their opinion on features and 'bug fixes' for Twitter, having taken over the social media organisation in October, while he also promoted Tesla's Investor Day which is set to take place at the start of next month.

But the 51-year-old is yet to comment on United, and he is running out of time to register his interest.

Musk has teased United supporters before, having nonchalantly claimed that he was buying the club last August prior to their clash with Liverpool as fans protested against the current regime.

He posted on Twitter: 'Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome’. His statement was met with excitement by fans from around the world, but he subsequently explained that he was only joking.

At the time, United were not on the market, but things changed three months later when the Glazers announced that they were willing to sell the club.

Following this significant change in circumstances, numerous parties have positioned themselves to potentially buy United, and fans are now eagerly waiting to see whether Musk will join them.

The Glazers are looking for in excess of £6bn, but some value the club at £4.5bn, and there has been some disagreement within the family as to whether they should consider lowering their asking price.

Whatever final price they arrive at, it is unlikely to be an issue for Musk, despite the South African-born billionaire setting a world record last month for largest loss of personal fortune in history, with an approximate drop of £150bn since November, according to the Guinness World Records.