Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is hopeful a strong statement from the club’s owners will end speculation surrounding a potential takeover bid from Spotify founder Daniel Ek.
Swedish billionaire Ek last week sent a tweet saying he would be interested in purchasing the Premier League club, which is owned by Stan Kroenke through his Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE) business.
But any potential deal looks to have been scuppered following a staunch response from the Gunners’ American ownership, who say they have not received any bids.
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“In recent days we have noted media speculation regarding a potential takeover bid for Arsenal Football Club,” read a KSE statement.
“We remain 100 per cent committed to Arsenal *and are not selling* any stake in the club.
“We have not received any offer and we will not entertain any offer.
“Our ambition for Arsenal remains to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game and our focus remains on improving our competitiveness on the pitch to achieve this.”
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Europa League semi-final first-leg tie against Villarreal, Arteta was pleased with the response.
“It closes a lot of the speculation regarding what could happen because they moved straight away and made very clear lines of their understanding and what they want to do with the football club,” he said.
“We spoke to them and I think it was very clear. They have shown their commitment and ambition to the football club because we all want a successful team on the pitch. It was very clear and took any doubt out of the situation.”
Club legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira have offered their support to Elk’s takeover bid and Jens Lehmann admitted that it would be ‘fantastic’ if his former teammates were handed the reins in some capacity.
“Josh Kroenke and his father are still interested, and they like to make people happy,” the German added on Tuesday morning.
“I only met Josh a couple of times, but he doesn’t seem to be not interested about his club.
“It’s about competence and the guys who are there right now are good, I know the CEO, I obviously know Edu and they’re doing to the best of his abilities.
“Bringing in guys like Thierry, Dennis and Patrick, my former teammates, that would be fantastic as well.
“About a new owner, I don’t know if that works because first of all you need to know if Mr Kroenke wants to sell the club, and I’m not aware of it.
“If you have these three guys, they are all coaches and managers, so who is doing what there? There could be a conflict of interest, or a conflict of their jobs, will they all be in the pitch?
“It sounds interesting, but at the end of the day I’d like to see how they’d structure that. To have an ex-football player on board is not a bad idea.”
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