Arsene Wenger Reveals ‘Cold War’ At Ownership Level Hindered His Spending Power

By The Editor
on 29th October 2023

Arsene Wenger happy for Arteta’s spending power…

Arsene Wenger stated that he’s happy to see the club in a strong financial position and their ability to back Mikel Arteta, something that wasn’t possible during the Frenchman’s tenure, he told beIN Sports.

The legendary manager was in the studio as a pundit for the Qatari-based broadcaster as he watched Arteta’s side thrash Sheffield United to close the gap at the top of the table.

Declan Rice was one of the stars of the show, and the England international continues to shine following his record-breaking £105 million move from West Ham United.

It’s those eye-watering sums that were unfathomable during Wenger’s tenure, with the boss spending over £50 million once during his entire period as Gunners boss.

For Wenger, there isn’t a feeling of resentment regarding the financial might behind Arteta’s vision, and he pointed to our ownership structure during his time at the club as an obstacle.

The Frenchman had to experience a ‘cold war’ at club-level with Stan Kroenke owning over 60%, while Alisher Usmanov owned 30% of the club with both entities aiming to gain 100% control.

“I am happy that I led the club through a period where the money wasn’t there,” Wenger said.

“It’s now in a shape where they can spend the money.

“As long as you had two shareholders, there was conflict about investing money. If Stan Kroenke had invested a lot of money with Usmanov being at the club, and he wanted to buy the 30% shares back, it would’ve cost a lot of money,

“He decided to invest money once he owned 100% of the shares.”

As we’ve become accustomed to know, Wenger is right. Stan Kroenke’s KSE company took over 100% of the club in 2018 and subsequently embarked on a spending spree over the next few summer windows.

While Unai Emery failed to take advantage of that, the club is in much better shape under the stewardship of Arteta who has transformed the culture in N5.

It was the only way we could’ve closed the gap on state-backed Manchester City and become a side capable of mounting a serious title challenge. We’re there now.