The former Arsenal midfielder has weighed in his views on Daniel Ek’s bid to buy the club from Stan Kroenke.
Paul Merson isn’t sold on Daniel Ek’s public statements about buying Arsenal, but he doubts Stan Kroenke will sell up anyway.
Ek is understood to be ‘very serious’ about buying out Kroenke. The co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify claims to be a lifelong Gunners fan and has ‘secured the funds’ to make a takeover bid.
Club legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, and Patrick Vieira have reportedly backed the Swedish billionaire.
A recent report from the Daily Mail has even claimed Arsenal have been up for sale effectively for the last two years.
This came despite Kroenke and his son, Josh, releasing a statement last week that claimed they remain ‘100% committed’ to the club, which Merson believes to be the case.
Public statement from Stan & Josh Kroenke:
“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.” pic.twitter.com/rDOme7dFmN
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) April 27, 2021
“Is Daniel Ek serious about buying Arsenal? I’m always dubious of things like this,” the former Gunners midfielder told the Daily Star.
“Who would put on Twitter that they want to buy a football club? I can’t imagine if you wanted to buy JP Morgan you’d do it on social media…
“But everyone’s heard of Spotify now, haven’t they? Call me a cynic, but it’s great free advertising for them.”
As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for @Arsenal as long as I can remember. If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I'd be happy to throw my hat in the ring.
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) April 23, 2021
“If he buys Arsenal I’ll say fair play to him,” Merson continued.
“But I find it very strange. If you really wanted to take over the club, you wouldn’t do it like this.
“I can’t see any way in a million years that Stan Kroenke sells anyway. Arsenal makes him money.”
Thousands of the club’s supporters recently staged a protest against Kroenke at the Emirates Stadium.
Together we defeated the super league.
The fight is not over. Arsenal has to change.
And there is still much more to do.https://t.co/MyNadspWig #KroenkeOut #FansIn pic.twitter.com/dn4JufaVOr— AST (@AST_arsenal) April 29, 2021
“It’s not like he lives here, and the fans can make his life a misery and hound him out. He never goes to the games,” Merson pointed out.
“He’s under no pressure to sell, and I don’t see why he would.
“He’s not fussed about the fans. If he was, he wouldn’t have signed up for the Super League.
“I would say Arsenal are stuck with him. Will all this heat convince him to spend some money on players?
“Let’s see. But I doubt it.”
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