Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, has expressed regret over not purchasing Arsenal when his interest was in owning a football club. He mentioned that he wished he had acquired the English club when it was valued at around $2 billion.
The billionaire business mogul, in an interview with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua in New York, explained that he missed the opportunity to buy Arsenal because he had committed his resources to the refinery project.
He said, “I think that time has passed. The last time when we had this interview, I told you as soon as I finish with the refinery, I am going to try and buy Arsenal.
“But you know everything has gone up and the club too is doing very well, Arsenal is doing extremely well right now. That time Arsenal wasn’t doing well.
“I think I don’t have that kind of excess liquidity to go and buy a club for $4 billion so to speak and use it as a promotional something.
“But what I will do is to continually be the biggest fan of Arsenal. I watch their games anytime they are playing. So, I will remain a major supporter of Arsenal but I don’t think it makes sense today to buy Arsenal.’
Dangote, when asked if he regretted not buying Arsenal when its value was lower, he said, “Actually, I regret not buying it before, but you know my money was more needed in completing my project (Dangote refinery) than buying Arsenal. I would have bought the club for $2 billion, but I wouldn’t have been able to finish my project. So, it was either I finish my project or go and buy Arsenal.”
In 2020, Dangote had expressed his intention to pursue ownership of the North London club after completing his refinery project.
Dangote,who has now set aside his ambition to take over at Emirates Stadium, founded the Dangote Group, the largest conglomerate in West Africa in 1981.
