Africa’s richest man plans to buy Arsenal in the next ‘three to four years’

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has confirmed that he will buy Arsenal in the next ‘three to four years’, as reported by the Nigerian news outlet, The Guardian. The Nigerian businessman has before claimed his interest in buying the club and claimed that he was willing to pay any sum to buy the club from current owner, Stan Kroenke.  

 Reportedly worth $10.9 billion, Dangote – a lifelong Arsenal fan – has the majority of his fortune tied up in Lagos-based Dangote Cement Plc, spoke of his strong ambition to buy the north London club following the finalisation of his gas pipeline and oil refinery.

‘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.’

‘It’s not about buying Arsenal and just continuing with business as usual. 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 20billion dollars of projects, I cannot do both.’

Kroenke, the majority shareholder at the club has been criticised for his apparent lack of involvement in the club, whereas Arsenal’s other majority shareholder Alisher Usmanov (30.04%) has indicated that he is not interested in selling his stake in the club.