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Football

27th Sep 2021

Thierry Henry provides update on Daniel Ek’s Arsenal takeover bid

Daniel Brown

“We are here to stay”

Thierry Henry has revealed that Spotify owner Daniel Ek remains interested in buying Arsenal and insists that ‘we are here to stay’.

In April, Ek expressed his interested in a takeover bid for Arsenal, reportedly joining forces with club legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira in an attempt to oust Stan Kroenke.

When speculation that he was preparing a bid to purchase the Gunners began to circulate, the 38-year-old took to Twitter to officially confirm his interest in doing so.

“As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for @Arsenal as long as I can remember,” he tweeted. “If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I’d be happy to throw my hat in the ring.”

However, Josh Kroenke, son of Stan Kroenke and one of the club’s directors, was quick to insist that Arsenal was not for sale.

“In recent days we have noted media speculation regarding a potential takeover bid for Arsenal Football Club,” read a joint statement from Stan and Josh in April.

“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.”

Now, five months later, Henry has confirmed that Arsenal fan Ek still remains interested in buying the North London outfit – with the Frenchman making it clear that Ek still has his support and backing.

“To be able to get there, you need someone to respond on the other side, it didn’t happen yet,” said Henry.

“We, he, is here to stay – so let’s see what’s going to happen.”

When asked if there were any updates regarding Ek’s ongoing interest in purchasing the club, Henry stated that there hadn’t been any dialogue between Ek and the Kroenke family and that it was going to be a ‘long’ process.

“I think its going to be long,” the 44-year-old added. “I think you remember I said it was going to be long.

“How long it’s going to be, I don’t know actually know.

“But we are here to stay.”

Both Henry – who is Arsenal’s all-time leading goalscorer – and Ek were in attendance for the Gunners’ 3-1 demolition of Spurs at the weekend, sitting together in the stand.

If the Kroenke family thought that Ek’s interest was simply going to fizzle out, then Henry has potentially reignited a spark that could continue to burn for a while yet.

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