Arsenal poised to be subjected to £1.5bn takeover bid from Middle East consortium within the next few weeks

The group do not want their identities made public yet but a bid source told Telegraph Sport the intention is to buy out Arsenal’s American owner, Stan Kroenke, whose perceived weak stewardship of the club has also been called into question by frustrated supporter groups.

The cash offer, which is more than twice the amount at which Arsenal were valued two years ago, will be for 100 per cent of the club, and if successful would wipe out debts that stand at around £250 million according to the last full year’s financial results.

According to a bid source, there would be substantial transfer funds made available to transform the club into a major force in European and world football. There would also be a pledge to reduce ticket prices at the Emirates Stadium — currently among the highest in the world — as well as an attempt to recreate “some of the feel of the old North Bank” at Highbury.

The bid team has noted the damage caused by Kroenke, who owns two-thirds of the club, refusing to engage with Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who owns 29.96 per cent.

The bidders would like to unite the ownership, putting all the shares together in one fund. The offer will be for the full 62,217 shares which have been issued, but effectively it will be to buy out Kroenke, in the first instance, paying around £830 million for his 66.83 per cent shareholding (41,581). The offer equates to around £20,000 per share.

The deal would provide the American with an approximate profit of £400 million given the majority owner is believed to have paid around £430 million to build his stake in the club since he first became involved in 2007. When Kroenke made his mandatory cash offer for Arsenal in April 2011, buying up the stakes owned by Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, it valued the club at £731 million.

A meeting has already been requested with the American to discuss the proposed offer. The seriousness of the bid is reinforced by the recent successful takeovers of Manchester City and Paris St-Germain by Middle East backers.

It is unlikely Usmanov will want to sell his shareholding, given his “dream” of taking control of Arsenal himself, but the Middle East consortium believes it will be able to work with the billionaire, who does not currently have a seat on the board and who has been frustrated in his attempts to get more involved.

Any takeover would inevitably raise questions over the future of manager Arsène Wenger, although the Frenchman is understood to be highly-regarded by the consortium They do not want to lose his football knowledge and want him to remain at the club.

But they are well aware that the last trophy won was the 2005 FA Cup and that Arsenal have become less of a rival to the Premier League's top clubs. They believe that the club have settled for relative mediocrity.

Arsenal travel on Sunday to north London rivals Tottenham with the club in a desperate fight to finish in the top four of the Premier League and qualify for next season’s Champions League. Arsenal currently lie in fifth place, four points behind their neighbours.

Despite protestations to the contrary, failure to qualify for the Champions League would undoubtedly have serious ramifications for Arsenal, who have been in Europe’s premier club competition for the past 16 years under Wenger.

A bid source told Telegraph Sport: “Arsenal is at a pivotal position at the moment. The fear is that the club is facing a cycle of decline like Liverpool. From our point of view it is the perfect moment to make this bid because at this moment in time you can still genuinely justify this extraordinary valuation on the club.

“We will not bid for Arsenal if they go into decline. Kroenke and Usmanov will not get this kind of valuation if Arsenal do not succeed and will not get this kind of valuation ever again.

“We think that bidding now is the key because it is going to give every shareholder maximum value. We are giving them peak valuation.

“The amount of capital required to pump into Arsenal to make it competitive within England, Europe and the world means that the valuation cannot go any higher.”

It makes the prospect of a gargantuan bid to buy the club all the more tantalising for frustrated Arsenal supporters.

“No big club can go eight years without winning anything,” the source added. “No manager of a big club, not even Sir Alex Ferguson, would have survived eight years without winning.” It is not an unreasonable statement.

Whether Wenger would voluntarily stay and work under a new regime is another question. Should a bid prove successful, Wenger would be in an awkward position, having previously criticised clubs with wealthy owners, accusing them of “financial doping”, although he has strong links with Paris St-Germain who, of course, also have Qatari owners.

Wenger’s current contract runs until June 2014 and it is understood that as things stand he has no intention of quitting even if Arsenal finish outside the top four, although he has faced growing calls to go.

The proposed new owners claim they are serious in their desire to turn Arsenal into a force again and also to do it in the right way. They say they do not want to acquire the club to make money but to invest.

The bid group believe that the ownership of Kroenke and his son and heir, Josh, has been at the heart of the club’s lack of competitiveness. They have also identified a lack of experience in football as a significant barrier to success.

“The biggest problem with Arsenal is that it has no owner, no face and there is no one to report to,” the bid source claimed. “The management of the club at every level is not put under scrutiny and does not have to report to anyone.”

The inference is that neither Kroenke nor his son has a feel for Arsenal – a claim which has been lent weight by the former’s low profile at the Emirates Stadium – and that the current board lacks strength and leadership.

Chief executive Ivan Gazidis has been criticised for being too deferential towards Wenger, who enjoys a huge amount of control at Arsenal.

Supporters have complained that Kroenke is not a visible presence and has not met directly with them since the takeover, although he has attended recent home games against Bayern Munich and Aston Villa. His reign at the club has come under criticism from fans at successive annual meetings.

Arsenal currently have a clear, self-sustaining structure, rejecting the benefactor model, with Wenger, the board and majority owner believing their approach will eventually succeed, especially with the incoming Uefa Financial Fair Play rules.

But there are genuine fears among fans that Arsenal are simply slipping away and becoming less competitive.

If successful, the bid would almost certainly take Arsenal to another level. The prospective owners claim their intention is to turn Arsenal into a major force in European football; one that will compete with Manchester United and Manchester City for the Premier League title and with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and PSG in the Champions League.

Given the nature and structure of the funding, the bidders say they are confident they will still be able to comply with FFP.

It is understood that they wish to maintain a degree of stability at the club, despite the upheaval of a takeover, although there would be a new board and, in all probability, a new chief executive as it is understood that Gazidis would be unlikely to be retained.

The bid team regard Arsenal as one of the great clubs of European football but also one that is no longer punching its weight and is in danger of falling behind.

Arsenal’s failure to hang on to their top talent has been a source of major unease at the club. Losing Holland international striker Robin van Persie — who left for Manchester United criticising a lack of ambition – Spain international Cesc Fabregas and France international Samir Nasri all hit hard.

The prospective owners claim there would be a firm commitment to a model of developing and keeping young players but also, and as a priority, to strengthening the squad so that those players, such as Jack Wilshere, have no reason to leave in the future.

Wenger believes he has a core of a squad that can challenge but this is not a universally-held opinion with doubts over the strength of the spine of the team.

Even his most fervent supporters struggle to make a case that Wenger is on the verge of creating another great team or that the squad has depth and quality to compete despite a high wage bill.

The Middle East consortium claim to sympathise with Arsenal supporters and their contention that many of them have been priced out of following their club.

Supporters groups have already warned that generations of fans could be lost.

Ticket prices, among the highest in the world and an increasingly contentious issue, will be reduced, the bid source said, and there will be an attempt to recreate “some of the feel of the old North Bank” at Highbury within the Emirates Stadium.

The bid source added there was a real desire to “bring back some of the true supporters” who have been priced out or become disillusioned.

The disillusionment is undoubtedly there. Cup defeats to Bradford City and Blackburn Rovers heightened that sense as did the humiliating Champions League 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich at the Emirates a fortnight ago, when the German side played with a verve and tempo Arsenal no longer recognise.

Finishing outside the top four would compound it even more especially if the proposed takeover is rejected. That would further increase the pressure on Kroenke in particular.