An Arsenal executive took a shot at Manchester City on Wednesday by saying that the club can’t compete against Manchester City because they have the financial resources of a nation state.

Manchester City are owned by Sheikh Mansour, who is a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Mansour has poured more than £1.5billion into the club since he acquired Manchester City five years ago.

While City is owned by Sheikh Mansour, Arsenal’s majority share holder is American billionaire Stan Kroenke. The American’s riches are not trivial by any means (he has a $5.3billion net worth) but they do pale in comparison to the wealth of Mansour and his family.

Arsenal chief commercial officer Tom Fox said:

“You can’t compete against that. We’re a football club in London and we are a global brand, but we would never try to compete against the financial resources of a country.

“I just don’t think that’s a very realistic thing for us to do … trying to chase those types of owners. Obviously it’s just not possible.

“We are competing against oligarchs (Roman Abramovich at Chelsea), we are competing against nation states, we are competing against clubs all across Europe that have sources of funding that are significant, that make it very difficult for us to compete.”

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