Arsenal takeover latest: Arsene Wenger warns Daniel Ek and club legends have ‘a mountain to climb’

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arsene Wenger has warned Spotify founder Daniel Ek he has “a mountain to climb” after news of his bid to buy Arsenal went public.

Swedish billionaire Ek tweeted last Friday that he was interested in buying Arsenal, if owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) were willing to sell, and he is ready to make a formal offer.

Ek has also joined forces with Arsenal legends Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry to strengthen his bid.

Wenger is a fan of the proposal, believing it helps if a club is run by former players, but he is wary of the project’s success given the public nature of it.

“I like the fact that former people of the the club run the club,” Wenger told BeIN Sports.

“And basically you two have examples in the football world - former players who run a club, like at Bayern, or big investors who buy a club, like Man City.

“You have all different kinds. I personally, because I am a football man, like the fact that former Arsenal players takeover and have advice.

“For the project, the best deals are made when nobody knew about it and you come out and it is done.

“Once you announce things, you have a mountain to climb after. Nobody wants to give in and I think it is better always if you do your deal, then when it is done you come out and tell people what you want.

“I will always support first Arsenal. If I can help Arsenal, I will do it as well, in anyway. That’s my answer.

Getty Images

“After that I am happy in my life today. Overall I am not in any demand.”

KSE are adamant they have no plans to sell Arsenal and said in a statement on Tuesday they were “100% committed”.

A statement read: “In recent days we have noted media speculation regarding a potential takeover bid for Arsenal Football Club. 

“We remain 100% 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.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in