Alisher Usmanov set to use £600million Arsenal shares windfall for Charlton Athletic swoopAlisher Usmanov is considering a move for Charlton Athletic after cashing in his Arsenal shares.
The 64-year-old Uzbeki - paid £600million by Stan Kroenke last month for his stake in the Gunners - wants to remain in English football, despite failing to influence transfer policy at the Emirates and deciding against buying into top-flight Everton .
Charlton are a club in turmoil, 11 years after being relegated from the Premier League and two seasons on from falling out of the Championship into League One.
Unpopular absentee-owner Roland Duchatelet is said to want around £20million for the the south-east London club he took over in 2014 for a similar amount — having this week described investing in football as “the mistake of my life”.
Charlton are believed to be losing around £10million a year, with Duchatelet’s attempts to sell so far unsuccessful. Fans have led a series of protests at his running of the club and a series of cost-cutting measures which have angered staff.
Duchatelet said this week: “My conclusion is that the recipes from the business world are totally unsuccessful in football. [Investing in football] was a mistake.
“The football business doesn’t suit me. Too irrational.
“If you want to lose real money, buy a football club…Investing in football was the mistake of my life.”
The news comes just after local hero Lee Bowyer was confirmed as his boyhood club’s manager on a permanent basis after impressing during an extended spell in caretaker charge that saw them make last season's play-offs.
His side sit 10th in League One, but lost on penalties to AFC Wimbledon in the Checkatrade Trophy this week in front of just 1,244 fans at The Valley — which has a capacity of 27,000.
Usmanov ended his 11-year association with the Gunners earlier this month after selling his 30 percent holding.
He had indicated a willingness to add to the millions he's already injected into Everton , a club majority owned by his one-time business partner Farhad Moshiri.
But he now looking for an investment of his own and is understood to have spotted potential in Charlton.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/alisher-usmanov-set-use-600million-13204265