Arsenal major shareholder Alisher Usmanov has denied quotes attributed to him by L'Equipe.

Usmanov, who is Arsenal's second largest shareholder, was quoted saying that Henry was "pushing me to buy all of Arsenal's shares but I cannot predict the future".

He said in a released statement:

"According to the interpretation by L'Equipe, the readers may have concluded that Thierry Henry persuaded Mr Usmanov to buy shares in Arsenal.

"In fact, in the interview, which was translated from Russian, Mr Usmanov said that the professionalism and the beautiful game, as embodied by players like Thierry Henry, were the reasons why he decided to buy shares in Arsenal."