Stan Kroenke makes major Arsenal decision after $659m transfer spend

Plenty of football remains to be played this season, yet Arsenal’s preparation for the summer has been in the works for some time now.

The Gunners welcome Champions League football back to the Emirates Stadium for the first time in seven years next season and could still lift the Premier League title. Continuing the tremendous job off the field over the summer is vital if the north Londoners are to become a mainstay at the top of English football again.

Transfer business is starting to take place behind the scenes with sporting director Edu Gaspar working hard to identify the perfect candidates for Mikel Arteta’s side next season. Yet owner Stan Kroenke has already finalised one major decision that could play an important role in the club’s future.

The American businessman has re-registered Arsenal as a private limited company, moving away from the public company model, according to filings Companies House including a name change to ‘The Arsenal Football Club Limited’.

A private limited company is the most common form of company incorporation in the United Kingdom, meaning assets and profits belong to the club and the shareholders are not wholly responsible for debts incurred. It also means that shares of the football club are no longer available to the public.

Arsenal have not actually been traded within the public domain since their delisting from the NEX Exchange in 2018, when Kroenke’s ‘Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’ completed the transaction to own 100% shareholding of the football club.

Since then, Kroenke has spent over £500 million on new signings to aid the Gunners’ return to the pinnacle of English football. It’s unclear how much the decision to register as PLC will actually affect decisions going forward, but football finance guru Kieran Maguire thinks the move will enable the club’s owners to focus easier on what is going on at the club.