Former Arsenal captain and the club’s all-time highest goal scorer, Thierry Henry has confirmed that Daniel Ek, the founder of music streaming platform, Spotify, has reached out to the owner of Arsenal, Stan Kroenke about buying the club.
Daniel Ek first made his interest in the ownership of Arsenal known in April 2021, amid protest from the club’s fans asking the Kroenke and his family to leave the club.
The agitation of the club’s fans against Kroenke’s family gained momentum when the club signed up for the failed breakaway European Super League.
Despite the protest from the fans and the interest of Daniel Ek in owning the club, Kroenke’s family has insisted that no stake in Arsenal is for sale.
To make his bid for the club more realistic, Ek brought in Thierry Henry and two other Arsenal legends Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp to help him make the dream of owning the club a reality.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Thierry Henry confirmed that the 38-year-old Swedish billionaire has written to the current owners of Arsenal and the tech expert would make a bid of £1.8 billion for the club.
Henry said: “I know a lot of people wanted to hear about [the takeover]. It is true. Daniel is an Arsenal fan, he didn’t say it for any publicity. He is an Arsenal fan for a very long time.
“He already – I’ll give you something – reached out [to the Kroenkes] and already said himself that he had collected the funds to make sure that he can put in a good bid.
“They now need to listen. A lot of people have been screaming that they want the owner out. We are trying to offer a solution involving the fans and getting the DNA of the club back.
“There needs to be a discussion, but he reached out…
“I think it is going to belong and not easy – if it does ever happen. One thing that I want to reiterate is that Daniel will not move away, he will be there waiting to see if they want to sell.
“That is going to take a very long time, we know what we want to do, but first and foremost we need to make sure that we can take over if they are listening.”
What Daniel Ek intends to do at Arsenal according to Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry confirmed that the plan of Daniel Ek for Arsenal if he succeeds in buying the club, was to give the fans a say in the decision-making process of the club.
The retired French international said the Swedish billionaire intends to bring in people that know the culture of the club to the club’s board to give Arsenal an identity.
According to him, Ek and his team have also reached out to Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) and the team is looking forward to having a more productive discussion with Kroenke and his son, Josh who is the director of the club.
“When we knew first and foremost that he wanted to involve the fans, we actually met the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust and told them what we wanted to do”, Henry said.
“We want to bring them back on board, being part of the meetings, knowing what’s happening because you need to put the DNA back into the club.
“But he wants to reinject the Arsenal DNA, the identity that for me is long gone. You don’t have Arsenal people there among the board that can show the right direction.”
