American tycoon Stan Kroenke says no intention to sell Arsenal

American billionaire Stan Kroenke and his son Josh said they have no intention of selling Arsenal Football Club after fans reacted with anger to their plans to join an elite European league, Bloomberg reports.

“We remain 100 percent committed to Arsenal and are not selling any stake in the club,” Kroenke Sports & Entertainment said in a statement Tuesday. “We have not received any offer and we will not entertain any offer.”

The statement comes after a tempestuous few days for Arsenal and the other five English clubs who signed up for the aborted Super League-project eight days ago. The uproar that erupted after the announcement had led to talk that some of the owners might consider selling their teams.

Spotify founder Daniel Ek said last week on social media that he’d be happy to “throw my hat in the ring” if Kroenke Sports was interested in selling. Media reports suggested former star players Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira would be part of an Ek bid.

Kroenke, who’s worth US$9.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, owns all of the London-based team after taking it private several years ago in a deal valuing the club at US$2.3 billion.

Arsenal fans have long complained about his ownership as the team slipped in the Premier League. Those protests have intensified since news of the Super League and last Friday several hundred fans gathered outside the team’s north London stadium with chants of “Kroenke out.”

“Our ambition for Arsenal remains to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game and our focus remains on improving our competitiveness on the pitch to achieve this.”