“£1.5bn takeover talks for Arsenal from a Middle East consortium” – the news which is driving Arsenal fans into a confused state right now. Will this take over help the club? or turn Arsenal into another soulless club? But before that, will this deal really happen?
A Local source said,
“The UAE and Qatar will never do a football deal together. Qatar might do something on their own, but they wouldn’t talk about it, they’d do it. They wouldn’t negotiate through the media in this way.”
David Bick, a football finance consultant who has previously helped on several takeovers also expressed his doubts about possibility of this deal,
“The valuation is nonsensical. Arsenal are odds on not to qualify for the Champions League, so £1.5bn is toppy to say the least.”
Another source added,
“Qatar might buy something in England but when you have a single shareholder, you don’t negotiate through the media. There are a few conspiracy theories going around about who put this out.”
Arsenal insisted yesterday that Mr Kroenke has no plans to sell his majority stake in Arsenal.
Arsenal’s communications director Mark Gonnella briefed,
“Stan Kroenke is committed to Arsenal for the long term and has no intention of selling his stake,”