Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has pledged to buy Arsenal in two years’ time amid growing speculation that minority shareholder Alisher Usmanov could be prepared to sell his stake.
Dangote, valued at around £10.6billion as of March, has rarely shied away from expressing his interest in eventually taking over the Gunners, whose ownership status appears to be in flux.
A report from the Financial Times on Wednesday claimed Usmanov was willing to sell his 30.04 per cent stake in Arsenal and would even consider doing business with majority shareholder Stan Kroenke.
Asked about the report Dangote was insistent that his bid to take over the Gunners would eventually become a reality.
“We will go after Arsenal from 2020 … even if somebody buys, we will still go after it,” Dangote said.
The 61-year-old has previously insisted that he believes he can put together an offer that would tempt both Kroenke and Usmanov to sell to him, though most supporters would not welcome a set of circumstances in which any individual took full control of the club.
Usmanov, whose representatives declined to comment on recent speculation, had confirmed in October last year that he would consider selling his stake to “a party who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club”.
Dangote is currently at number 66 on Forbes Magazine’s list of the most powerful people in 2018.
