Arsenal legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira have joined Spotify owner Daniel Ek in a bid to buy the club following fans’ protests against current owner Stan Kroenke.
Gunners supporters made their feelings towards Kroenke clear on Friday evening when hundreds turned out to protest against the American at the Emirates Stadium.
An effigy of the 73-year-old was hanged as they called for him to sell up, after his attempts to make Arsenal one of the founding members of the breakaway European Super League.
Daniel Ek is moving forwards with his bid to buy Arsenal football club from Stan Kroenke
Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira have all been enlisted to aid the takeover
It was on the same evening that Swedish entrepreneur Ek, estimated to be worth around £3.4bn, tweeted his intentions to explore the possibility of acquiring the club.
Ek wrote: ‘As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for @Arsenal as long as I can remember. If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I’d be happy to throw my hat in the ring.’
And according to the Daily Telegraph, he has now enlisted the help of three of Arsenal’s most famous Invincibles to take forward his bid to take over.
Gunners record scorer Henry, former captain Vieira and Bergkamp could return to the Emirates Stadium in a working capacity should the takeover be successful.
Club director Josh Kroenke, the son of the current owner, has insisted it is not for sale, but the presence of three club legends backing a new bid will apply pressure following recent events.
Kroenke Jr made the comments at a fans forum on Thursday, where he defended the club’s decision to join the European Super League.
Friday evening saw hundreds of Arsenal supporters protest against the current ownership
Stan Kroenke was the target of much of fans’ anger after the club formed part of the failed ESL
He told fans via Zoom: ‘Leadership is about recognising when you are wrong, correcting and apologising. We asked ourselves, what is worse: a Super League or a Super League without Arsenal? We also asked ourselves, what do the fans want?
‘The global fan wants Arsenal against Barcelona as often as possible. English fans want to see more big matches, but you also still want your cold nights in Stoke. Now we need to build a bridge and we will.’
However, Henry spoke out over the weekend, backing the fans for protesting and insisting he no longer recognises the club with which he won two Premier League titles and reached the Champions League final.
‘This club belongs to the fans, I love the club and I will support the club until I die, but I do not recognise my club and what happened just now, with them trying to join a league that would have been closed, makes no sense to me,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘They have been running the club like a company, not a football club, and they showed their hand.’
Chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has been attempting to build bridges with fans and other chairmen around the Premier League following the European Super League debacle last week.
Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has moved to apologise to fans over the ESL
He has been in touch with fellow chiefs at each of the 14 Premier League clubs not involved with the breakaway league to apologise.
‘Arsenal were not the authors of this proposal, despite what many think,’ he told supporters on Thursday.
‘On this project, the train was leaving the station. We made the decision to join. We made a bad decision, a terrible one. Now we need to make good ones.’
Despite their work with a takeover, Henry, Vieira and Bergkamp have all moved into coaching roles since retiring from football.
Henry has managed Monaco and most recently CF Montreal, following a career on the pitch that saw him become Arsenal’s all-time top goalscorer with 228.
Henry has moved into management since retiring, having coached CF Montreal and Monaco
He lifted two Premier League titles and two FA Cups with the Gunners – as did Vieira, who made 393 appearances for the north London club. The 44-year-old, who came to personify Arsenal’s rivalry with Manchester United given his constant run-ins with United captain Roy Keane.
Vieira was sacked by Nice in December last year but has spoken of his desire to get back into coaching, the former midfielder having been linked with a move to the Premier League.
Bergkamp, who was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1998 while at Arsenal, left his assistant coach role at Ajax in 2014.
Like Henry, the Dutchman has a statue outside the Emirates, his depicting his famous first touch for his hat-trick goal against Leicester City in 1997 – a goal that won him the BBC Goal of the Season competition.
Henry and Vieira can be seen with the Premier League trophy during Arsenal’s 2004 parade