By Victor Kanayo
Billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has posited that time has passed for him to buy top English Premier League football club, Arsenal.
Dangote who spoke with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqus in an interview on Monday, also said he regret not buying Arsenal in the past.
Dangote who has now dropped as Africa’s number one richest 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 you know I wouldn’t have been able to finish my project. So, It was either I finish my project or go and buy Arsenal.
“The last time we had this interview, I told you that yes as soon as I finished with the refinery, I am going to try and buy Arsenal.
“But the issue is that everything has gone up. The clubs are all doing well. Arsenal are doing extremely well now. At that time [that I wanted to buy] they were not doing very well.
“I think I don’t have that kind of excess liquidity to go and buy a club for $4 billion and use it for promotional something.
“I would rather do something with the money. What I’ll do, I will continue to be the biggest fan of Arsenal. I watch their games everytime. I will remain a major supporter of Arsenal but I don’t think it makes sense today to buy Arsenal.
“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 had in 2020 made known his intention to go for the North London club after his refinery project.
The billionaire business mogul, who has now rested his ambition to take over at Emirates Stadium, founded the Dangote Group — the largest conglomerate in West Africa — in 1981.
