Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revealed why he no longer plans to purchase the English football club Arsenal, now valued at around $4 billion.

During an interview with Bloomberg TV in New York, Dangote explained that the window of opportunity for acquiring the club has passed. He added that he doesn’t have the excess liquidity to justify spending such an amount purely for promotional purposes.

“I think that time has passed. The last time when we had this interview, I told you that as soon as I finished the refinery, I’m going to try and buy Arsenal,” Dangote said.

“The issue is that you know, everything has gone up. The club is doing very well. Arsenal is doing very well. That time, Arsenal wasn’t doing really well. I think you know, I don’t have that kind of excess liquidity to go and buy a club for $4 billion dollars, so to speak, and use it just as a promotional something.”

He stressed his continued love for Arsenal, noting that he remains a devoted fan despite the change in his investment plans. “What I will do is to continue to be the biggest of Arsenal. I watch their games every day. I will remain a major supporter of Arsenal. But I think it won’t make sense today to buy Arsenal.”

Refinery vs. Arsenal

Dangote also explained that at the time, he had to choose between completing his $20 billion refinery or spending $2 billion to buy Arsenal. He ultimately decided to prioritise the refinery, a project many had doubted would succeed.

“I regret not buying Arsenal before. But my money was needed in completing my projects than buying Arsenal. I would have bought it for $2 billion. But I wouldn’t have been able to finish my project. The choice was to either finish my projects or go and buy Arsenal. I think the best decision was to go and complete our refineries, which a lot of people didn’t believe was going to be completed,” Dangote added.

In 2020, Dangote expressed interest in acquiring Arsenal for $2 billion, stating that he would love to take control of the club. At the time, Arsenal was struggling, much to the frustration of its fanbase. However, with the club’s recent improvement, Dangote’s priorities have shifted.

Other prominent figures, like Spotify founder Daniel Ek, have also expressed interest in acquiring Arsenal, though these efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.