American business tycoon Stan Kroenke has launched a huge bid to acquire full ownership of Arsenal Football Club and buy out co-owner Alisher Usmanov.
Kroenke joined the club’s board of directors back in 2008 and started out with a 29% stake in Arsenal before assuming majority control of the club in 2011, increasing his stake to 62%.
According to Talk Sport, today he owns 67% of the shares at The Emirates and he has made a bold attempt to gain 100% ownership of Arsenal Football club.
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Talk Sport reports that the American values the club at £1.8bn and has tabled an offer which would see him gain the remaining 33% of shares currently held by Russian billionaire Usmanov.
Talk Sport also reports that the US business magnate released a statement, which reads: “We at KSE are moving forward with this offer leading to 100% ownership of the club.
“We appreciate Mr Usmanov’s dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the club represents.”
Kroenke has not always enjoyed the full backing of supporters during his decade-long association with The Gunners, often seen as an absentee landlord and an Arsene Wenger enabler, as per The Independent.
Wenger’s last 10 years in North London created a toxic environment amongst the fans and they took to blaming Kroenke for failing to look elsewhere at managerial prospects as well as being tight with funds in the transfer market.
However, now the Frenchman has finally gone, it seems that Arsenal’s majority owner sees this as the right time to take full control, which could see him feature more prominently behind the scenes and indeed in the stands on match days.
Arsenal kick off their 2018/19 Premier League campaign against reigning champions Manchester City next Sunday as new boss Unai Emery aims to take the club back into Europe and reinforce their place as one of England’s top sides.