"Wenger has built a team for Arsenal's rivals... then we try to compete with them" - Usmanov

Arsenal's second biggest shareholder Alisher Usmanov insists club legend Thierry Henry is desperate for him to buy the north London outfit outright – and, in a swipe at the Gunners' transfer policy, the Uzbek billionaire has also accused manager Arsene Wenger of 'building a team' for his rivals.

Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Ashley Cole are among just some of the high-profile stars to have joined Arsenal's Barclays Premier League challengers during Wenger's tenure.


Van Persie quit the Emirates last summer to join Manchester United in a £24million deal with Nasri joining Manchester City the previous year, and Cole opting to quit the Gunners for Chelsea in 2006.

And Usmanov, who holds a 29.9 per cent stake in the club after buying former vice-chairman David Dein's shares, believes it is time for change at the Emirates Stadium.

'I like many footballers, and I'm in contact with some of them. Perhaps my favourite of the last 10, 15 years is Thierry Henry. He's pushing me to buy all of Arsenal's shares, but I cannot predict the future,' Usmanov said.

'The greatest achievement of Arsene Wenger is to have created two teams: the one that now plays for our rivals and the one that is trying to be among the best in the Premier League.

'That's why I say it's not enough to merely flatter the coach but to give him the possibility to buy the best players, superstars. But not just stars but those chosen by Wenger.

'It's unthinkable that the shareholders get well-paid while, for small clauses in contracts, we lose key players, symbols like Robin van Persie, Mathieu Flamini or Patrick Vieira. We should have increased their salaries when they started to be courted, started to look elsewhere. I don't know why we didn't propose that to them.'

Speaking to French newspaper L'Equipe Usmanov admitted that he holds 'no relationship' with majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, and that his passion for the north London club came to fruition with Wenger's Double winning side of 1998 – a team he believes to be as good as Lionel Messi and Co at Barcelona.
 
Usmanov rates Wenger among the world's best managers but reckons his talents are being restricted by Arsenal's notoriously tight transfer budget.