Arsenal billionaire shareholder Alisher Usmanov has added to the current turmoil surrounding the club by making a £1billion takeover bid.
Uzbekistan metals magnet Usmanov made the massive offer in a recent letter to American sports mogul Stan Kroenke, who owns 67 per cent of the club.
It’s understood Kroenke did not initially turn down the fortune, which values Arsenal at over £1.6billion with Usmanov owning 30 per cent already. But he has indicated over the last week that he will not be selling.
But Arsenal, who are in grave danger of not qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in two decades, are a club in flux with a dysfunctional management structure.
Manager Arsene Wenger’s future is still unclear, there is an absentee owner in Kroenke, a lame duck chairman in Chips Keswick and an ineffectual chief executive in Ivan Gazidis who is believed to have a poor working relationship with Wenger.
Usmanov, whose bid would have given Kroenke a profit of over four-times what he paid for his shares, is more critical of the American than Wenger.
He believes Kroenke has not invested enough in Arsenal and has been happy to keep the status quo of ever-rising profits from Wenger delivering Champions League football for 20 years.
Neither Arsenal nor Usmanov’s camp have offered comment.
Culled from Mail Sport
