News broke yesterday that SpaceX founder and Twitter owner Elon Musk might be interested in buying Premier League club Manchester United.
While the authenticity of this news is questionable, what is not is that Glazers, the owners of United, are looking for buyers.
Many potential buyers have been touted, like British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Another bidder who has a shot at owning the historic club is the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
There is a serious potential that PSG and United may come under the same ownership. And we have all seen how the Gulf regime has worked out for the Parisian club.
PSG have gone from strength to strength, landing the biggest names in world football and have fought for the highest prizes. The “oil-money” has allowed PSG to enjoy the talents of players like Neymar, Beckham, Mbappe and even Messi.
So it is understandable why at least some Old Trafford faithful would be excited at the prospect of such names playing in the iconic red shirt.
The Emir of Qatar, who completed his higher education in England at the end of the 1990s, is strongly imbued with British culture. He is a fan of tennis and football and has always had a football club in his heart: #mufc. This project is his project, his will [@le_Parisien]
One of the names routinely linked with the Red Devils is Kylian Mbappe. A move from PSG to United would be relatively straightforward, considering common ownership.
Everyone involved in this supposed dealing, be it the clubs, the player or Qatar itself, have remained mum, letting speculation do all the work.
But Mbappe may have inadvertently done something that has added fuel to the fire. Or has it? Let’s take a deeper look.
The social media post
Following PSG’s 1-0 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League last night, the Frenchman took to social media to tell fans that there is another leg to go and that the match is very much up for grabs.
Mbappe started the game on the bench, only coming off in the second half and almost scoring a goal that was later ruled off as offside.
The player is expected to be available for the next game, which would boost the Paris club’s chances multi-fold times.
The post caption, written in French, said “Tout reste à faire…”.
Instagram translated the caption is English, and the translation is what has gone viral since, sending United fans into a frenzy.
The translated post said “All that remains to be done…Manchester United’s team is now on @psg”.
The mention of United on a Mbappe post was enough to get fans tripping. What’s more, this is not the first time Mbappe has mentioned the English club on social media.
Another IG-translated post from May 2022 gives us another instance of United finding its way into Mbappe’s captions.
Needless to say, Twitter erupted.
Rashford too replied to the tweet with a fire emoji, causing more uproar.
But why is the forward mentioning another club, an unrelated one at that, in his posts? Are the images edited or is something really brewing?
The truth
The fact, really, is much less sinister or dramatic. It is a glitch.
The actual translation to the post is “Everything remains to be done…”. No mention of United anywhere in sight.
It’s possible that Instagram’s automatic translation algorithm made an error when translating Kylian Mbappe’s caption.
Automatic translation systems rely on complex algorithms and machine learning to interpret and translate text, but they are not always 100% accurate, especially when dealing with nuances and context.
An increase in the usage of the words “PSG”, “United” and “Mbappe” in unison on social media may have confused the algorithm, which may have assumed that the three words are related.
That Rashford decided to reply to the post may simply be down to a trigger-happy social media manager and nothing else.
Mbappe may still end up coming to United. Or he may not. But we are certain that whatever he decides, it will be much more pronounced than a mere mention of the club in a random IG caption.
