Alisher Usmanov net worth: Arsenal shareholder fortunes rose by $3bn in 2016

Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov saw his fortune grow by $3bn (£2.4bn) in 2016 and is now worth around $15.2bn, according to Forbes. The Russian business magnate is now the 66th richest person in the world with a fortune twice the size of Arsenal's majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, who is valued at $7.5bn.

The news will come as a major boost to the Uzbekistan-born tycoon, who had a net worth of $18.6bn in 2014, and the increase in his vast wealth may lead to him intensifying his efforts into buying a Premier League club and owning it outright.

Usmanov has harboured ambitions of controlling a top-flight English side for some time but has grown frustrated by his lack of influence at the Emirates Stadium. Despite owning 30% of the Gunners, the 63-year-old has no say over how the club is run and does not even have a place on the board.

Exasperated by his struggles for power in north London, Usmanov has looked at other potential Premier League avenues to exploit. In January he teamed up with his former cohort at Arsenal Farhad Moshiri, who is now the majority shareholder at Everton, and sealed a naming rights deal worth £75m with the Toffees.

The club's training base is now named USM Finch Farm, and the view from some quarters is that Usmanov may well ramp up his involvement at Goodison Park in the coming months and years. If that is indeed the case, he may have to end his association with Arsenal. Premier League rules prohibit shareholders from holding stakes in two clubs.

Usmanov may have little to no influence in goings on at the Emirates, but with the current turbulence and uncertainty surrounding the club, a drastic ownership change would be a rather unwanted headache.

Usmanov feels passionately about Arsenal and wants nothing more than to arm Wenger – or whoever is in the Emirates hotseat – with the means to challenge Europe's elite, but his rather strained relationship with 'Silent Stan' Kroenke and desire for control could see him seek pastures new in the Premier League, whether that be at Everton or another club.