Nigerian Billionaire Aliko Dangote: I’m Planning To Launch Arsenal Takeover In 2020

Aliko Dangote has been promoting his potential takeover of Arsenal for years…

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has revealed that he’ll launch his much-publicised takeover of Arsenal in 2020 which seems to be his ultimate goal, Reuters reports.

Dangote has been publicly talking up a potential takeover of Arsenal since 2015 and given his estimated net worth of $10bn, he definitely has the funds to pull it off.

Stan Kroenke owns 66% of the club and while he rebuffed an offer from our second-largest shareholder Alisher Usmanov last summer, there were some rumours that he may be open to selling to another entity.

Also, according to The Financial Times, Usmanov has grown a frustrated figure in recent months and is now looking to shift his 30% stake in the club – a potential opening for Dangote.

The magnate billionaire has claimed that he’s in no rush to purchase shares and will make an offer for the entire club in 2020, regardless of whose hands the control is in.

“Hopefully, we will finish mechanical (construction) by next year and products will start coming out in the first quarter of 2020,” Dangote told Reuters when asked about the oil refinery he’s building in Nigeria.

“We will go after Arsenal from 2020 … even if somebody buys, we will still go after it.”

Dangote had previously stated that if he was in charge, he would’ve immediately made a managerial change indicating that he wasn’t a fan of former manager Arsene Wenger.

However, with what was described as the toughest task in our club’s history currently being negotiated, maybe new ownership could allow us to push on further.