Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani may bid for North London-based Arsenal Football Club as per a report. Earlier, many news channels and reports had claimed that Ambani may bid for other English clubs, including giants like Manchester United and Liverpool, which are currently up for sale.
According to an article in The Athletic, which was published on Monday, Ambani's elder son Akash, 31, who heads the Reliance Jio operations, is a big Arsenal fan, and that the Ambani family would like to bid for Arsenal club if they did enter the world of football.
Arsenal is one of the most successful professional football clubs. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 16 FA Community Shields, one European Cup Winners' Cup, and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The top players in the club are Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba, Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Matt Turner, as per latest club ratings.
The club is owned by Arsenal Holdings Limited, which is operated by KSE UK INC. KSE UK INC is 100 per cent owned by E. Stanley Kroenke. Kroenke became a shareholder in May 2007, and was later appointed to the Board of Directors in September 2008. He became the majority shareholder of Arsenal Football Club in April 2011.
Clubs on sale
About three weeks ago, it was reported that billionaire Ambani might be interested in Manchester United after the Glazers family announced that they are willing to listen to offers for one of the biggest football clubs in the world, which is believed to be valued at £5 billion.
Afterward, it was reported that he might make a bid for Liverpool. Reds owners Fenway Sports Group too had announced that they would sell the Merseyside club, which it had acquired for £300 million in 2010. They have also engaged with banks Goldmann Sachs and Morgan Stanley to gauge interest around a sale.
Earlier this year, Chelsea was taken over by American billionaire Todd Boehly after Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich sold the club.
As per experts, there has been a significant influx of cash into the first team and infrastructure at some clubs that has left the giants of the yesteryears struggling to keep up in times of slowdown and recession.
Clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and Newcastle United have reportedly invested billions in their teams and infrastructure, which has put giants like Liverpool, Juventus, and Tottenham Hotspur, at a loss in the changing market.