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Morning Ticker: Kroenke buys more Arsenal shares, Hunt picks Germany over England and more

Colorado Rapids owner Stan Kroenke edged closer to a potential takeover of English power Arsenal after buying another batch of shares.

Kroenke now owns about 29.6 percent of Arsenal's shares, just three percentage points below the amount that would obligate him to launch a formal takeover bid.

While Kroenke has made no public declarations about his intentions, it certainly looks as though he has plans to join fellow Americans Randy Lerner (Aston Villa), the Glazers (Manchester United), George Gillet and Tom Hicks (Liverpool) as owners in the English Premier League.

Here are some other stories to get Tuesday going:

Hunt sticks with Germany, snubs England

The German Football Federation scored a victory on the player loyalty front this week after Werder Bremen striker Aaron Hunt turned down approaches to play for England. Born to an English mother and German father, Hunt is one of the best young strikers in the Bundesliga and affirmed that he only wants to play for Germany.

The victory in the Hunt case comes after Germany lost out on midfielder Jermaine Jones, who has switched affiliations to the United States.

Clichy sidelined with back injury

Arsenal fullback Gael Clichy is set to be sidelined for several weeks with a stress fracture in his back.

Clichy is expected to be out until December, bad news for the red-hot Gunners, who also learned that striker Nicklas Bendtnerwill be out for a month with a groin injury. That injury will rule Bendtner out of Denmark's upcoming friendly against the United States on Nov. 18.

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What do you think of these developments? Wondering when Kroenke will splash some of that cash on the Rapids? Happy to see Hunt snub England? Disappointed that the U.S. national team won't get to face Bendtner?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The reason that change has happened with the Nuggets is because Kroenke spent money. He has never spent money on the Rapids. Also if I am Arsenal am I going to loan a young player out to a team in the states or loan him out to a championship side or other European club, I am going to loan him out to European club.

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  2. Be reasonable, people. You don’t buy a sports team to make a profit, you buy it to make capital gains when you sell it, and for the glory. Stan has what, $100 million tied up in the Rapids (if he paid for Dick’s, otherwise maybe 25 million. Buying Arsenal would take probably in the neighborhood of $750 million. Leverged to the hilt, surely) if the Rapids increase in value by 50%, that’s the same as Arsenal increasing by 10%. Where you putting your money? On the need for a 50% growth or a 10% growth?

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  3. So in the traditional Big Four, three will owned by Americans and one by a Russian, right?

    The Brits must be so proud.

    Include Aston Villa, and you could potentially have a big five with four American owners and one Russian.

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  4. i dunno guys. If you look through german forums, the german fans actually were sad that he left. They demanded he get capped but the coach never saw eye to eye with him.

    I guess a similar situation would be us demanding Torres getting more playing time. Just cuz Bradley does not see him worthy of more playing time, does not mean the fans agree as well.

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  5. he could easily get a prominent DP for the rapids he he only put a aside a few bucks that isnt going toward arsenal…or better yet, ATTEMPT to increase the awareness that there is actually a pro soccer team in Colorado!

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  6. Its all got to be ‘coulds’ at this point though, as Kroenke doesn’t yet control Arsenal. I’m just trying to point out to all the complainers that there is a lot of potential. Just look at how much the Denver Nuggets have changed in the past few years. That kind of change will probably happen for the Rapids if Kroenke takes over Arsenal.

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  7. The only place where the owners are restricted is in the player’s salary cap. If they want to invest in high-priced coaches, trainers, scouts, facilities, etc. they can. They can also get a DP player.

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  8. I disagree with those who complain about Kroenke’s investment in Arsenal over Colorado. Arsenal has a fantastic youth program, and at some point, having an increased partnership with them through Kroenke’s control of both could reap huge rewards. Arsenal could have a chance to battle harden rising stars in America, which could very well pass the Championship in quality in the coming years, and Colorado could use the improvements that a Wilshire or Merida would bring for a half season loan (think reverse Beckham) and could also take on a ‘twilight’ star as Wenger’s young team gets older. Arsenal could also take on any outstanding youth that may come through Colorado in the future. Set up right, an increased partnership between Colorado and Arsenal through Kroenke could be incredibly good.

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  9. I’m not saying there aren’t problems with MLS. But honestly, with all these rich guys owning in MLS, you don’t think they have any influence on the league? If they really wanted to, I’m sure they could increase the cap. They just don’t want to spend the money. In America we like paying people as little as legally possible. Soccer functions best in an open market and if the teams can’t buy the players they want it’s a problem. In most European leagues, the league and the federations encourage the teams to build their academies. Brendaton is never going to be Clairefontaine and I think some of these money hungry rich guys need to open their eyes. If they feed on Americans’ needs for loyalty, they could potentially bring up more teams in cities that don’t have many sport teams, and make the league more competitive. Don’t you think some of these MLS teams would be forced to improve if they knew they were at the risk of being relegated and losing TV profits and advertising?

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  10. normally i would be happy that bendtner is out but this is a friendly in prep for the World Cup. need to go up against the best.

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  11. “focus their money in MLS” that would be great! except we have a salary cap equal to a burger king here and just about every possible regulation on clubs’ finances. do you think phil austwicz, kroenke, hicks, glazer, gilette, lerner, crafts and the rest of american billionaires with money invested in soccer would be more willing to work on the MLS if only we made a better business environment here… i think so.

    of course I am not calling for the reinvention of the NASL where anything goes buy all the best players in the world, but an MLS owner should have a bit more freedom to sign players and fund their organization.

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  12. I don’t think it’s practical to say that the owners should just go get American players into their academies just because they can. You have to think about two major things, the fans and the coaches. The English fans give more to the team than an American fan who watches the game religiously in the US. There’s the culture that you have to deal with. And if the English fans aren’t seeing some of their youngsters come through, they’ll be hardly happy to see American youngsters coming through. As for coaches, they make the decisions on who comes where, especially at the big clubs. Randy Lerner has nothing to do with the Americans at Villa, that’s all O’Neill’s doing. Can you imagine an owner telling Arsene “don’t tell me how to do my job” Wenger who he should bring in? Arsenal would fall apart quicker than you can say Lindsay Lohan is retarted. Soccer is big business, and you want to win by bringing in the best players. In Europe, the players get picked up at very early ages, but that’s only after they’ve been watched very carefully for awhile to make sure they have the potential to be the real deal. And there are tons of players all over the world. If owners can just say, oh pick this player up because he’s from my country and I say so, it would ruin things. Look what happened when Abramovich tried to push Shevchenko on Chelsea? it didn’t work out. There are a lot of factors that come into player recruitment and development. If anything, American owners should focus their money in MLS instead of trying to be big heads in Europe. Foster the system and culture here so that players have more to offer when they go abroad or when they’re with the national team.

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  13. dude, you read my mind. I don’t know why Ives is under the impression that Germany wanted to keep Jones. He was nothing but debris to them. They have better players in his position. And younger ones too. When he was called up, he was hardly ever used and only bitched and whined about it. I think they’re a little happy to get rid of him.

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  14. Reading the article, the s— is going to hit the fan very soon. The Arsenal Supporters Trust doesn’t want a takeover. Obviously, Kroenke does. Bing bang boom, drama in North London. I can’t wait.

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  15. Kroenke isn’t going anywhere. When he acquires Arsenal, it’s going to be part of a bigger scheme, one that will involve the Raps. Remember the Colorado Arsenal? Think of that.

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  16. Really these Owners need to hit up the American market. get our Youth players in those World class acadmeys for trainning and learning….THEY ARE THE OWNERS they can dow what they want and yet they dont care about American soccer except Lerner(Friedel,Guzan,Lichaj). Typical.

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  17. I’d much rather Kroenke *not* buy Arsenal if it means having to leverage that purchase with a stupid amount of debt. One of the things that makes Arsenal so great is that it is turning a profit legitimately, and has very controllable debts. The stadium mortgage is huge, yes, but the increased revenues are more than paying that off, and anything they get from Highbury– not much now, but you have to figure it will pick up eventually– will get poured back into the club. That’s smart finances, and if Kroenke messes that up with a leveraged takeover then Arsenal will be just one bad season away from insolvency.

    Also agree with the Rapids fans who’d rather see Stan put some of this money into the Rapids. When that stadium rarely fills, and my friends living in Denver hardly know the team exists, you know someone over there’s doing a poor job selling the thing. Increased ad budget could do wonders!

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  18. One of those depends on who you ask situations from what I’ve read….

    Some feel that Jones attitude/personality and the Ballack-Frings love affair took him out of the picture. No way he is “scraps” though. Personally, I’d actually take Jones in peak form over Frings….yes, Frings who handled the ball in front of goal in the WC2002 QF : )

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  19. I didn’t realize Germany “lost out” on Jones. They’ve had a chance to prove to him he was in their future plans but passed on him. It’s just that the Germans are light years ahead of the US and we are happy to pick up the scraps of other national teams. Not saying Jones is scrap – but compared to the MF of Germany, he is…which isn’t saying much for the US when you compare him to his competition here.

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  20. Arsenal compared to some of the other clubs in england is in great financial situation.. also as long as they don’t lose alot of money and value of the club keeps rising they will still net a profit.

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  21. I really hope he leaves Arsenal alone. We’re doing this right with out him. I don’t want him to run my club into the ground.

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  22. Screw Kroenke. As a Rapids fan I wish he would just sell the Rapids and get out of MLS. It is clear that the guy has money and he refuses to invest it into soccer in the US. But he will run over to England amd dump millions into shares of Arsenal. He spent only a fraction of what he has spent on his shares of Arsenal on the Rapids, it would make a huge difference.

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  23. are any of these european super clubs actually turning a profit? it just seems like all these rich Americans are just keeping up with the Joneses. Glazer has a EPL team…i want one too. Meanwhile these clubs are in debt up to their necks

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