Nigerian business magnate Aliko Dangote is a lifelong Gunners' fan who had earlier expressed interest in buying the London club in 2010. He has now rekindled interest, and outlined his plan to buy Arsenal within the next four years in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York on Wednesday
There’s no doubt” he said about his intentions to buy Arsenal. “It’s not a problem of money” he added. When asked about the timeline he was looking at, he stated - “Maybe three to four years. The issue is that we have more challenging headwinds. I need to get those out the way first and start having tailwinds. Then I’ll focus on this.”
Dangote isn't a big fan of Arsene Wenger's current strategy either and has said that the Arsenal boss who has been at the helm for 20 years now needs to “change his style a bit”, with the club needing a “new direction”
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A trophy-deprived Arsenal fanbase can take solace from Dangote's intentions with the club. The 59-year old whose estimated net worth stands at $10.8 billion (67th in Forbes Richest Men in the World list) is a life-long Arsenal fan and wants to restore the club to its former glory.
“It’s not about buying Arsenal and just continuing with business as usual,” he said. “It’s about buying Arsenal and turning it around. I’ve run a very successful business and I think I can also run a very successful team.
Right now, with what we’re facing, over $20 billion of projects, I cannot do both.”
Dangote has lost $4.5 billion this year, the third most of anyone globally, due mainly to the depreciation of Nigeria’s currency. The bulk of his wealth is tied up in Lagos-based Dangote Cement Plc, whose stock is down 19 percent in the past two years. The Nigerian entrepreneur though is no stranger to setbacks, having established his first business aged just 21 – initially trading in rice and vegetable oil, but soon diversified into the vast all encompassing conglomerate that the Dangote group is now, with interests in infrastructure, sugar, oil and other products.
It's also important to note that he is nearly 8 times richer now than he was when he first tried an Arsenal takeover. Stan Kroenke, Arsenal's current majority shareholder (with a 67% stake) has an estimated net worth of just below $8 billion and Dangote has claimed that he knows just what strategy to employ to convince the American who also owns the Denver Nuggets franchise to sell.
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Arsenal's strong Nigerian connection – with superstar Nwankwo Kanu and promising young tyro Alex Iwobi turning out in the red-and-white of the Gunners – looks set to become even stronger.
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