English Premier League club Arsenal have announced a link up with Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids but denied that there will be any takeover attempt and the partnership was only for marketing purposes and the development of young players.

The deal will see transfer of coaching and training philosophies, building the Arsenal Center of Excellence in Denver and the inauguration of Arsenal Cup which will see American youth soccer clubs fighting it out for the top prize and will be played in April.

Announcing the deal, Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman said, "This is a very important step for Arsenal as this becomes our first venture into the US marketplace". This is the second such deal with a club for Arsenal as they already have such a link up with Belgian side Beveren apart from an academy in the Ivory Coast.

The deal, coming on the heels of the recent takeover of Liverpool by American duo George Gillet and Tom Hicks, has prompted speculations that it is a prologue to a takeover attempt on Arsenal. However Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has scoffed off the speculations.

"Unless I'm completely naive it's not a takeover. I've never heard about a possible takeover and I don't think that is at all behind our partnership. We develop a few partnerships sometimes with football schools and sometimes with clubs. We're trying to extend our brand and we're are also trying to extend our technical cooperation because the Americans might produce some players at some stage and that's why we're doing it. We're always trying to develop young players", Wenger added.