Mikel Arteta says it is time to move on from Daniel Ek’s proposed takeover of Arsenal “for the benefit of the club”.
Spotify co-founder Ek claimed he had a £1.8bn offer for Arsenal turned down last week by the club’s owners, Stan Kroenke and his son Josh.
Ek – whose plans have been backed by Gunners legends Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry – says the Kroenke’s told him they ‘don’t need the money.
The US owners have long been unpopular with some Arsenal supporters and their role in signing the club up to the failed European Super League has only added to the fans’ unhappiness.
However, the Kroenke’s have regularly insisted they will not sell Arsenal, and when asked whether the time had come to forget about Ek’s planned takeover, Arteta said: “I really hope so because I think it’s very clear where the owners are standing.
“For the benefit of the club, which I think is the only interest, we are aiming to get the unity and togetherness that we need to be back where we want.”
Arsenal go into their final game of the season – at home to Brighton on Sunday, live onSky Sports –ninth in the Premier League and guaranteed to end the season without a trophy.
While they will still qualify for the inaugural Europa Conference League if they beat Brighton and Everton and Tottenham fail to win on the final day, Arteta accepts his first full season in charge has been less successful than he envisioned.
“This is not where we want to be,” the manager admitted. “We haven’t won a title. In the league we have two more points than last season, but that is nowhere near what we wanted.
“The fact that we don’t have a title makes it really difficult to see more positives.”
Arsenal’s form in the first few months of the season was bad enough to see Arteta sweating over his position, but a surprise 3-1 win at home to Chelsea on Boxing Day appeared to mark a turning point.
The following month saw a number of out-of-favour players, such as Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi, leave the club, and their form in the second half of the season places them fifth in the Premier League form table.
While Arteta admitted Arsenal are still not where they hoped to be on the field, he suggested changes made off the pitch have been more successful, saying: “There are a lot of other things that have been done that were very necessary that were not related to results.
“It’s a lot of things from September to December that are contributing to that. There were a lot of things in that period.
“This is my job – to identify and to be very critical with myself and try to analyze why things happened. If it’s positive, let’s keep doing a lot of the good things that we are doing.”
