An Arab consortium is considering making a £1.5billion bid for Arsenal in the near future, according to reports.
The Sun on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph have both reported the interest, with funds for the bid said to be coming from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the next few weeks. American Stan Kroenke is the club's majority shareholder, while Uzbek Alisher Usmanov also holds a significant stake.
The offer for Arsenal would reportedly see the potential investors bid around £20,000 per share, making Kroenke's holding alone worth £830million. Earlier this week, the club's parent holding company announced half-yearly figures which revealed a profit of £17.8million generated by player sales - and cash reserves of £123million.
There have been calls for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who brought in Spain international fullback Nacho Monreal for £8.5million on January transfer deadline day, to spend big next season as he looks to bring the squad back into contention for a long-overdue sustained assault on the title.
While Wenger accepts simply splashing the cash is no guarantee of a quick fix, the Arsenal manager does believe with some further additions, his squad can go on to deliver a first trophy since 2005.
"There is only one trophy and that is the championship. The real value of the team is where you finish in the championship," said Wenger, who takes his team to Tottenham on Sunday looking to reduce the gap in the race for Champions League qualification.
"Let's see where we finish and then let's see how we can strengthen the team. But if it was just sorted out by the numbers, you would always have Chelsea or Manchester City champions every year.
"Chelsea finished sixth last year, and that is the real value of the team for me. What is important now is to see where we finish and after that strengthen the team and come back and fight for the championship.
"I think we have the basis. If you are really interested in deep analysis of the team's potential, I can sit down with you and show you why we have the potential to do it and then we can have another discussion again."
