Football
Arsenal on a mission to own London
In the wake of the recent dismissal of their long time serving boss, Arsene Wenger, who had been Gunners boss for 22 years, a man who has led the team unto so many victories notably for his unbeaten record in the premier league triumph.
A new era has now begun with the appointment of Unai Emery, Ex- Paris saint German tactician after his side woeful performance in the UCL after series of domestic’s tittles despite the record signing of Neymar from Barcelona.
Arsenal’s majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has made a £600m offer to buy the whole of the club in a deal that would value the Gunners at £1.8bn.The American billionaire owns 67% of Arsenal through his company KSE, which says Alisher Usmanov has agreed to sell his 30% stake in the club.
A KSE statement says taking the club private will help to further Arsenal’s “strategy and ambitions”.
The buy-out announcement was made to the London Stock exchange on recently.
Despite his shareholding, Usmanov is not part of the board or the decision-making at Arsenal.
The metal magnate made a £1bn bid to buy the Emirates outfit in May 2017 but this was rejected by Kroenke.
The statement to the stock exchange added: “KSE’s ambitions for the club are to see it competing consistently to win the Premier League and the Champions League, as well as the major trophies in the women’s senior game and at youth level.”
KSE said that under “its stewardship since 2011 the club has invested in major transfers, player contracts, analytics, senior non-playing football management employees” and it “expects the club to build on those investments”.
The Gunners start their Premier League campaign against champions Manchester City on Sunday.
While Kroenke says taking sole ownership will benefit the club, the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) called the news “a dreadful day” for the Gunners.
“Stan Kroenke taking the club private will see the end of supporters owning shares in Arsenal and their role upholding custodianship values,” said an AST statement.
AST added that by becoming the 100% owner, Kroenke would be able to take “detrimental actions” such as paying “management fees and dividends without any check or balance”.
It added: “The AST is also extremely concerned to note that this purchase is being funded by a loan.
“The AST is wholly against this takeover which marks a very sad day for Arsenal football club.”