There’s been a lot of takeover rumours going around about several Billionaires signifying interest in buying Arsenal Football Club from owner Stan Kroenke.
This comes amidst a growing concern by Arsenal fans over the poor running of the club in recent years.
Arsenal owners only seemed to make things worse in the eyes of the fans by joining the proposed European Super League.
The European Super League is a competition proposed by 12 of the richest clubs in Europe. These founding clubs, amongst which was Arsenal, wanted to create their own league, protect themselves from relegation and also enjoy massive financial benefits.
The backlash from fans and indeed the majority of the footballing world was enough to force a U-turn in that regard. Several of the founders pulled out of the arrangement, effectively suspending the competition indefinitely.
But despite Arsenal pulling out, supporters have been more vocal than ever against the owners.
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Ahead of the club’s Premier League match against Everton on Friday, fans came out en-masse to demand that Stan Kroenke, the American owner of the club, sell the team.
Kroenke became the owner of a fraction of the club in 2007 through his business Kroenke Sports and Entertainment. However, he became the sole owner of the club in 2018.
Kroenke also owns several other professional sports teams like the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche.
Amidst the uproar, Swedish billionaire and owner of music-streaming giant Spotify, Daniel Ek said on Twitter that if the opportunity came about, he’d be willing to buy the club.
“As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for @Arsenal as long as I can remember,” Ek wrote. “If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I’d be happy to throw my hat in the ring.”
According to reports by the Daily Telegraph, Ek has joined forces with Arsenal legends Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp to plot on a way to oust Kroenke from the club.
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Another billionaire reportedly interested in buying the club is Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote.
In an interview with Bloomberg in 2020, he said: “It is a team that yes I would like to buy someday, but what I keep saying is we have $20billion worth of projects and that’s what I really want to concentrate on.
“I’m trying to finish building the company and then after we finish, maybe sometime in 2021 we can. I’m not buying Arsenal right now, I’m buying Arsenal when I finish all these projects because I’m trying to take the company to the next level.”
In another interview, the billionaire said he would buy the club even if it was eventually bought by someone else. “Even if somebody buys, we will still go after it,” he said.
Due to the increased amount of speculation over the ownership of the club, the Kroenke family, released a statement insisting that they “are not selling any stake” in the Premier League club.
“In recent days we have noted media speculation regarding a potential takeover bid for Arsenal Football Club,” the statement released by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) read.
“We remain 100 per cent committed to Arsenal and are not selling any stake in the club. We have not received any offer and we will not entertain any offer.
“Our ambition for Arsenal remains to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game and our focus remains on improving our competitiveness on the pitch to achieve this.”
With that said, we’d just have to see how the story unfolds in the future. Let us know who you think is the ideal candidate to takeover Arsenal?
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