The business magnate was criticized in certain quarters, with some observers insisting he should have bought a domestic club and not look abroad.
However, speaking to a group of senior editors, Dangote said: “the issue is that if I buy all the Nigerian clubs, the Nigerian flags will continue to remain here. But buying Arsenal will take the Nigerian flag worldwide. Just like whenever Abrahamovich is mentioned, the name of his country, Russia comes up, everyone knows he’s Russian.”
The 58-year-old, who is the richest man in Africa, is worth $15.7billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and was rebuffed in his attempts to buy a stake in the Gunners in 2010.
“I still hope, one day at the right price, that I’ll buy the team,” Dangote said in an interview on a flight between Addis Ababa and Lagos in May this year.
“I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy.”
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If he is successful with a future bid, it would make him the first African owner of a club in England.
