STAN KROENKE still owes Arsenal board members £50m despite edging closer to taking full control of the club. The American billionaire last week moved a step nearer to owning 29.9% of the London club, which would force him to make a formal takeover bid. However, he has paid for only half his shares since making a £100m commitment to increase his stake from 12.38% to 28.3% last December.
Insiders are concerned that it could take him years to pay off the remainder. Kroenke owes Danny Fiszman, Arsenal’s most influential director, nearly £40m and has not fully paid off Richard Carr, a longstanding member of the football club board whose 4.38% holding was sold to the American for nearly £25m 10 months ago.
“Unlike Alisher Usmanov [the Moscow-based billionaire who owns 25% of Arsenal], Kroenke doesn’t have £500m sitting in a bank doing nothing. It could be many months or years before he has paid off all the money,” said a source close to the board.