The President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has conveyed his disappointment over not acquiring Arsenal, as he has a keen interest in owning a football club.

He expressed a desire that he had purchased the English club when its valuation was approximately $2 billion.

In an interview with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua in New York, the billionaire entrepreneur elaborated that he lost the opportunity to buy Arsenal because he dedicated his resources to the refinery project.

He said, “I think that time has passed. The last time when we had this interview, I told you as soon as I finish with the refinery, I am going to try and buy Arsenal.

“But you know everything has gone up and the club too is doing very well, Arsenal is doing extremely well right now. That time Arsenal wasn’t doing well.

“I think I don’t have that kind of excess liquidity to go and buy a club for $4 billion so to speak and use it as a promotional something.

“But what I will do is to continually be the biggest fan of Arsenal. I watch their games anytime they are playing. So, I will remain a major supporter of Arsenal but I don’t think it makes sense today to buy Arsenal.’

He responded to the question of whether he regretted not purchasing when Arsenal's value was lower, “Actually, I regret not buying it before but you know my money was more needed in completing my project (Dangote refinery) than buying Arsenal. I would have bought the club for $2 billion but you know I wouldn’t have been able to finish my project. So, It was either I finish my project or go and buy Arsenal.”

In 2020, Dangote expressed his desire to pursue ownership of the North London club following the completion of his refinery project.

The billionaire entrepreneur, who has since abandoned his plans to acquire the Emirates Stadium, established the Dangote Group in 1981, which has grown to become the largest conglomerate in West Africa.