Author Archives: keenosafc

Stan Kroenke set to take complete control of Arsenal

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Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has made a cash offer to buy all remaining shares int he club in a deal worth £1.8bn.

Kroenke, who owns 67.09% of Arsenal through KSE UK, has received “an irrevocable undertaking” from Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov to sell his 30% stake in the club.

Stan Kroenke said: “We at KSE are moving forward with this Offer leading to 100% ownership of the Club. We appreciate Mr Usmanov’s dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the Club represents.”

Kroenke’s holdings in the club began with an initial 9.9% bought from ITV plc in April 2007. Initially treated with hostility, Kroenke fell into favour with the board upon when Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and London-based financier Farhad Moshiri bought a stake held by former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein through Red & White Holdings.

Kroenke brought his stake in the club up to 20.5% following a purchase of shares from fellow director Danny Fiszman.

On 1 May 2009, Arsenal announced that Kroenke had bought a further 4,839 shares from the Carr family, including Richard Carr, also a director, which made him the largest shareholder of the company with 28.3%.[17] On November the same year, this increased to the maximum 29.9% limit.[18]

A rival bid for the club came from Red & White Holdings, as Usmanov grew his share in the club to 18,204 shares (29.25%) of the club. This is the largest single stake owned by a non-board member.

This led to press speculation of a bidding war between Kroenke and Usmanov. However, Kroenke agreed not to purchase more than 29.9% of the club until at least September 2009, while the rest of the board agreed not to consider a sale of their shares to “non-permitted persons” until at least April 2009, and had first option on each other’s shares until October 2012.

In April 2011, Kroenke extended his ownership of the club by purchasing the shareholdings of Nina Bracewell-Smith (15.9%), Danny Fiszman (16.11%) and other directors of the Arsenal board, taking his shareholding to 66.64%.

In recent weeks, there has been speculation that Usmanov was willing to sell his shares in Arsenal.

There is plenty to fear of Kroenke owning 100% of Arsenal, the main one being that if he owns every share, he could take the club private. That would lead to the clubs money being his money to do with as he wishes. He would no longer need to submit public accounts, and we as a club would be at the mercy of him.

With Ivan Gazidis set to depart for AC Milan and Arsene Wenger having left the club after 22-years, Kroenke buying the entire club will be just create even more turmoil in the boardroom.

Keenos

Tottenham Transfers Update

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Spurs have still not signed a single player.

Will they make a late signing? Or does this just highlight how skint they are?

My bet is the later and the stadium costs are continuing to spiral out of control.

I would say something like “how the mighty have fallen” but they would have had to have been mighty to begin with.

It is crazy that they promote themselves as such a bit club when the last time they won the league, Burnley were reigning champions!

I am off fishing!

Keenos

2 IN; 3 OUT at Arsenal

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With the transfer window slamming shut on Thursday, all has been quiet at Arsenal surrounding who is potentially coming in.

With the transfer window still be open throughout Europe until the end of the month, we will probably not see a mass exodus of players this week, however it will be the last chance for English clubs to bring anyone in.

In a surprising deal, it looks like Calum Chambers is set to join Fulham on a season long loan deal.

There was plenty of speculation that Chambers was going to join the West London club earlier in the summer. But a new contract and reports that Unai Emery was impressed in the Englishman seemed to quash that deal.

One of the few players to have played every game in pre-season, Chambers departure is very surprising, especially considering the long-term injury to Laurent Koscielny.

At the back end of last season, he was ahead of Rob Holding and Kostadinos Mavropanos, and this pre-season has played more minutes than the pair. He was clearly 3rd choice centre back, and also provided additional cover at right back.

He will be 24-years-old in January and has already had a season long loan deal to Middlesbrough. It just feels like a strange move. The only reasoning is that someone else is coming in.

Lucas Perez has been like a yoyo this summer. Early indications were that Emery was going to give him a second chance. He failed to start any of our 5 pre-season games

Both Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson started three games a-piece and looked good. Emery seems to have decided to give them more chances in the first team squad at the sacrifice of 29-year-old Perez.

Perez was not even in the match day squad for the games against Chelsea in Dublin or Lazio in Stockholm. He has been heavily linked with the latter (Lazio) and more recently West Ham.

Having been at the World Cup, David Ospina was already facing a handicap when it came to the battle with Petr Cech to be new signing Bernd Leno’s competition.

Leno stared 3 out of 5, with Cech starting the other two.

With Cech having one-year left on his contract, he seems content to stay in London where has been for 14 years and the city where his children have grown up, regardless of being number 2.

That leaves Ospina as the man most likely to leave.

He has been linked with a move to Turkey every since his second season with Arsenal; and it seems this year will be when it finally happens. Some outlets are reporting it is a loan deal, others a permanent deal. £2,000,000 the mooted feed.

The only logical reason for Chambers to be leaving is that we are going to make a last minute signing at centre back.

There has been massive speculation this morning that Arsenal are in for Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng.

Emery has been quoted a few times saying that “if something special becomes available, we will be in for him”. Could Boateng be that something special?

The reported £45million fee is relatively cheap in the current transfer market. Arsenal would be getting one of the best 5 centre backs in the world who, at 29-years-old, would add experience and power at the back.

The only concern would be his injury record. In the last few years, he has started to accrue a few muscle injuries.

He nearly missed the World Cup after a hamstring injury and did not look 100% during Germany’s early exit. He also suffered a hamstring injury in 2017, and has failed to play 20 Bundesliga games in the last 3 seasons.

Munich could be looking to cash in on someone who is broken, and will never be repaired. Alternatively Arsenal could end up with a top centre back with another 4 seasons in him.

There is also an outside chance that Arsenal could bring in Ousmane Dembele on loan, with the possibility of a permanent deal if Aaron Ramsey leaves.

Reports have claimed that the 21-year-old has been concerned over his role at Barcelona following the eclub’s decision to sign Brazilian winger Malcom from Bordeaux this summer.

Dembele has been heavily linked with a switch to Arsenal this summer as he still has a strong relationship with the Gunners’ head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, who he knows from his time at Dortmund. Last week, Dembele was also pictured having dinner with several members of Arsenal’s squad including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Reports from Spain are that Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has personally assured Ousmane Dembele that he still has a future at the club, goning out of his way to speak to the France international.

All in all, bar the Chambers deal going through today, it will likely be a quiet week for Arsenal, with Perez and Ospina set to move closer towards the end of August.

Keenos