Should Arsenal and Chelsea fans be worried by Usmanov and Abramovich’s £803m loss?
It’s not often you find London football fans taking an interest in the Russian stock market.
But such is the nature of modern football, that the fortunes of two billionaires' assets on the spiralling Russian stock market was reported in relation to the fortunes of two of the capital’s biggest clubs.
As the rouble’s value crashed to its lowest value in more than a decade on Tuesday, Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich got burned – losing £287m in less than 48 hours. Alisher Usmanov, the oligarch who owns a 30 per cent stake in Arsenal and has invested over £200m of his own money into the club, fared even worse, losing £516m.
It’s not hard to see why fans of either club may be a little concerned. Chelsea could buy an even better team – even a new stadium – than the one they’ve already got with £287m. Usmanov could buy out the unpopular American tycoon Stan Kroenke’s majority stake in Arsenal.
Should fans be worried? The short answer is no. Things are fine. Here’s how the two magnates’ losses earlier this week have eaten into their overall wealth.
They’ll be fine.
Furthermore, both men will have plenty of assets not exposed to the Russian stock market. You know, like a football club. Oh, and Abramovich and Usmanov have already made back $36.6m and $147m in the last 24 hours respectively.