Stan Kroenke’s Arsenal predictions 8 years on including title win and Ozil claim
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As Stan Kroenke's ownership at Arsenal continues to cause serious debate, it is certainly fair to say that he has big plans for the Gunners.
The American billionaire, who also owns the Los Angeles Rams, the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Rapids, among other clubs and franchises, has come under fire since leading Arsenal into the botched European Super League.
A very stout businessman with a history of running successful sports teams, Kroenke's first venture into Arsenal came back in 2007, and he has since risen to have 100 per cent stake of the north London side.
Back in 2013 Kroneke lifted the lid during a rare interview with Mirror Sport on his plans and aspirations for the club.
So eight years on, Daily Star Sport takes a closer look at how these four main points Kroneke highlighted have played out.
Premier League title aspirations
“There would be nothing cooler, I’ve never experienced it over here, to win the championship of the Premier League. Some of my American cohorts have experienced that and we haven’t been able to.
“I’m not getting any younger. It’s something I would like to achieve. There would be nothing more thrilling than to win a championship."
We all know how this one ends…
Arsenal haven’t even been in the Champions League since 2017, Wenger’s penultimate year.
With the possibility of not even getting into Europe for only the second time in the Premier League era, it’s fair to say results and league finishes have gone backwards under Kroenke.
They only qualified for the Europa League this year because they won the FA Cup last season.
Mesut Ozil delight
“What a great player (Ozil) is. His spirit is great, the players who are with him… you can judge a lot by what players say when they leave and they weren’t happy when he left (Real Madrid).
“We stayed in close touch as we went through the process. Everyone wanted to get him, other teams wanted to get him and to get him here is fantastic.
“We weren’t there to make a statement. It’s absolutely not done for that. It was done purely because our manager views him as worth that money, sees him as a player to help us compete, and that meant we were happy to pay it."
Well… what a rollercoaster of emotions Ozil put Arsenal fans through during his eight years at the club.
Of course, the German playmaker was the most talented player at the club for the majority of his spell, and showed that with some quite sensational creativity at times.
But there were also question marks around his attitude and work rate, with Mikel Arteta eventually freezing him out while he earned £350,000-a-week.
Intent to spend on big transfers
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“There’s an awareness financially within clubs of spending in the US and Europe or whatever which you have to have.
“But we’ve always said that there are resources available to Arsene. We have always been, and will continue to be, very supportive.”
This one might not be looked upon too favourably by Arsenal fans, with the club rarely spending any large sums of money without having sold in order to raise those funds.
Back in 2020, it emerged that Kroenke hadn’t put a single penny into the club for five years, which would explain their frugal spending that has made life difficult for various managers.
In contrast, Brighton, Fulham and Aston Villa have all been handed over £150m to switch up their squads.
His biggest mistake
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“What I always say is that you can look at all our teams, you can say positively or negatively about them, but one thing’s for sure: we never sold one.
“We are here. We like being here.
“We have a lot of money invested in Arsenal. We put our head on the line so to speak. My only mistake was to not get involved sooner on a few levels.”
Well amid talk of a takeover from Daniel Ek, that seems to say all it needs to – Kroenke won’t be selling any time soon.
The KSE chief owns American football, basketball, lacrosse, Major League Soccer and Esports teams, and they have only been expanding in recent years.
Kroenke bought his first shares from ITV subsidiary Granada Ventures back in 2007, and it’s fair to say he hasn’t looked back since, buying all the shares off Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith before taking those of Alisher Usmanov, who claims he was shut out to the point of selling up.
- Champions League
- FA Cup
- Premier League
- Europa League
- Mesut Ozil
- Arsenal FC
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