• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Aliko Dangote makes major announcement about buying Arsenal Football Club

Dangote
Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has disclosed his new plans of taking over the ownership of English Premier League outfit Arsenal from current majority shareholder Stan Kroenke.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
“I’m trying to finish building the company and then after we finish, maybe some time in 2021 we can,” Dangote said in a recent interview on the David Rubenstein Show.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
The Nigerian businessman has made no secret of his desire to take over the north London club in the past and has made several statements about launching a future takeover bid.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
He said in 2018 that he would likely bid to buy the London club in 2020. But he is currently working towards the completion of his refinery in Lagos.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
“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,” Dangote said.⁣⁣
 
Dangote has a net worth of more than £8.5 billion ($11 billion) and has been heavily linked with a takeover at Arsenal in the past, with the club currently owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.
 

The Gunners are very much in the middle of a transitional period at the moment, with the 2019-20 campaign disrupted by significant changes in the dugout.

Unai Emery was sacked in November after just over a year in charge of the first team, with his assistant Freddie Ljungberg then asked to step up to the role of head coach on an interim basis.