The Times claims Arsenal won’t hold contract renewal talks with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil until the end of the season and that the club ‘face a battle’ to persuade the duo to sign new deals.
Matt Hughes’ ‘exclusive’ continues: “The club had hoped to avoid either player entering the final two years of their deals and opened negotiations with both of their representatives last year, but they have failed to progress and will not be resumed until the end of the season.”
There’s chat of £160,000-a-week being on the table for each man, but they’ll wait and see if the Gunners make next season’s Champions League before deciding on their future.
We’ll cut to the chase. This looks like a non-story. We’re playing poorly so it’s the easiest thing in the world to write stuff that preys on the worst fears of fans.
So, let’s examine the evidence. For six months the noises from both Ozil and Arsene Wenger have been that there’s no rush to negotiate new contracts and that focus will turn to the matter at the end of the season.
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“At the end of the year, they have two-and-a-half years left on their contract so we still have some time. We are not in a hurry. Of course, we want them to stay here at the club and we will start the negotiations at some stage. At the moment we have not started them. From the New Year to the summer we will certainly start it [talks] with all the players who have two years to go at the end of the season.”
Wenger on Ozil & Sanchez contracts, 19 November 2015
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“My contract runs until 2018, that is for another two and a half years. There is no need to hurry. There are no talks at the moment but I can only say that I am very happy in London and that my decision to come here from Real Madrid was the right one.”
Mesut Ozil on his contract, 22 December 2015
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“We’ll deal with that later in the season. At the moment we focus more on the present. We’ll deal with that around May.”
Wenger on Ozil & Sanchez contracts, 23 December 2015
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“Yes, I am confident [they will sign new deals]. Yes, they have a two-year contract left and there’s been nothing done yet. They look happy, when I talk to them they are happy and they want to extend their contracts so I don’t think it is a problem. That will be done in the break, in the summer.”
Wenger on Ozil & Sanchez contracts, 2 April 2016
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Now look, it’s more than possible that Ozil and Sanchez are weighing up where they want to play their football in 2018/19. After all, Wenger, the man who signed them, is out of contract a year before they are and both players have made clear in the past that he was a major reason for them signing on at the Emirates in the first place.
Arseblog News suspects that contract questions will be on the media agenda when Wenger faces the press on Friday ahead of Sunday’s clash at Sunderland.
We’re almost certain he’ll continue to bat them away – both those on his own future and that of his players – until after the final day of the season.
How can the club expect them to stay when we’re so poor.
Two world class players that can go to any big clubs in Europe.
Wenger has to buy big if he wants to keep two of our best players.
If we lose them it’ll be a tragedy.
But would it really be such a tragedy? It doesn’t matter who we have in our team, our ability to self destruct negates any individual quality.
But you’re forgetting that after next season, Wenger will leave, and we will have someone that can build a proper team.
0zil fine but Sanchez? He’s not been doing too much for the team, since returning from injury, so has played a part in the so called sinking ship. Pull your socks up and take some responsibility son.
He hasn’t been at his best but it would be a blow to see him go. Recently he’s slowly been notching up the odd assist and goal. In no way prolific right now but next year he’d leave a hole. It would be a real shame if he requested to leave.
p.s. like the Air Miles touch!
I totally agree, what I meant was that it would be slightly rich for him to agitate for a move due to an under performing team when his own contribution has been substandard for a large chunk of the season. Just to be clear, I absolutely want him to stay.
Because much like Wenger these two aren’t stupid enough to just think one season is anything to worry about. However Özil has also been clear about the need for further quality. He is likely to get that as opposed to fucking off like a certain robby van cunt.
When the morning cries
And you don’t know why , it’s
Hard to bear
With no-one to love you
Your going nowhere
Really hope they sign new deals.in other news have been reading seems like the pressure is starting to get to Wenger and he has started behaving in an odd manner. I think its time for him to either accept he needs some help and that he can’t manage all aspects of the club or move upstairs where his job won’t be so stressful finding another young hungry manager for the team who maybe shares a same vision of beautiful football and youth development
I’ve said this for a while. He has given some very bizarre interviews this year. For a man who’se intelligence is unquestionable and is so long in the tooth he has chosen to say very strange things. I’ve had to stop watching his interviews for the most part because most either make me feel sad for him, annoyed by him or confused by him or all three at once. There’s no question he’s in an uncomfortable position, but if any manager has dealt with this kind of pressure and come out with his dignity intact it’s Arsene. I guess that’s… Read more »
Wenger is reported to be very upset that he’s getting abuse from the fans, but what on earth does he expect? Of course it would be preferable if fans had a civilised way of making their views known both to the club and to Wenger himself; if they could phone or email or have a polite discussion in person, there’d be no need for banners and shouting. But sadly they can’t. Wenger is as remote from the people who are paying his salary through their season tickets as a king or a president – though in the case of a… Read more »
Agree with this entirely. It seems to me that, while the board doesn’t have the cojones to fire Wenger, there’s been a tacit decision that this contract will be his last. What that lame-duck year will mean for the team (in terms of retaining talent) and the fan base (in terms of behaviour and support for the team) remains to be seen. It’s certainly going to be a sad end to a marvelous career.
The empty seats at the Emirates – 20,000 predicted for the next game – must be scaring the board shitless. I wonder how soon they’ll try their usual trick of feeding the tabloids with rumours about the signings that ‘almost done deals’ to get the season-ticket renewals in. Never mind that Wenger has already said we won’t be going on a big spend. Such is the club’s contempt for the fans, they probably don’t think we can remember these contradictory utterances for longer than five minutes. And on the subject of contempt for the fans, I heard Martinez saying today… Read more »
good post. i was really hoping that we didn’t spend last year because we were going to bring pep in this summer and give him a war chest to rebuild. i was gutted that we didn’t get him and now even more so at the prospect of another year of wenger in charge.
Hahaha…dude analysing like he runs the club. Not new tho…almost all Arsenal fans does same. That’s what Wenger have reduced us to…But, Wenger won’t leave,neither will the board sack him…Don’t think of any successor. We’re stuck till God knows when. Sad but true. Hehehe
The pressure started getting to him a long time ago. The season where we lost a match and Wenger said it was “just a game” confirmed he had lost that mojo he was known for.
I was going to write something, but decided Im too depressed.
I was about to reply, but decided Im too drunk.
I was about t… ah fuck it.
i was … oh waht the hell #wengerout
Same here. Absolutely depressed. Staying off football sites for now otherwise all I’ll see is Spurs doing really well and having a real chance of winning the title. The worst part is they’re actually deserving and we let them have that chance when we decided to become crap since November. And at this point I’m not even sure any amount of world class players we get in the summer can have any real impact if we persist with the same ineffective tactics, weak defense (not the players but how we actually set up to defend), useless tippy tappy in and… Read more »
Wenger may leave when his contract expires next season but I’m no longer convinced that would be such an issue to world class players like Sanchez and Ozil. What is more important is to convince them to stay through actions not words – sign a quality centre forward and centre-back this summer. With the amount of cash coming the way of EPL clubs combined with our existing cash reserves, we can afford to do that and more importantly it would be the sort of statement of intent that we need after this season’s failures.
Is anyone else considering the fact that If Liverpool win the Europa League (extremely possible) that the fourth place spot will be conceded to them? We have it all to do. I just want this season over with now as soon as possible with Champions League football secured! Getting ugly fast….
If Arsenal finish fourth, the only way they wouldn’t qualify for the Champions League would be if Manchester City and Liverpool win the Champions League and Europa League respectively while not finishing in the top four themselves.
That would be the cherry on the cake wouldn’t it
5 English teams will go through (like Spain this year) if Man City win the Champions League and remain in the top 4. Europa League winners won’t have any bearing on the top 4 Premiere league spots. It’s only if there’s a Chelsea scenario from 2012 that will effect 4th spot. BBB – Bring Back Bendtner!
“Europa League winners won’t have any bearing on the top 4 Premiere league spots.”
Wrong. It has exactly the same impact as the Champions League does – for there to be any impact at all, they both have to be won by English teams finishing outside the top four. Both matter, or neither do. There’s no circumstance in which the Champions League impacts this and the Europa League doesn’t.
But I read somewhere that if Liverpool win Europa, 5 teams will qualify from England. Can you please clarify that?
Provided city wins e CL and falls outside of top 4.
It is possible for 5 teams in the CL.
Ahh ok thanks for clearing that up, at least that ain’t all so bad then!!
If Man City and Liverpool both finish outside of the top four and both win the European cups then the fourth placed club will drop into the Europa league and both teams will compete in the Champions League. Doesn’t look likely does it.
What seems more likely is that Man Utd overtake us and push us out of the top four into the Europa league but personally I think we will hang on to fourth….
We are the best in conquering the 4th place trophy. Having seen us done it over the years, I don’t see any ‘mental block’ or something in fighting and closing this place down for ourselves.
Is anyone else considering the fact that our form is so bad, there’s a chance Utd will finish above us and we will take the not so coveted 5th place?
If Walcott really is on £140k/week wouldnt an offer of £160k seem quite derisory to them/their agents even as an initial negotiating stance by the club?
Scum press in slow-news-day-making-stuff-up-to-fill-space shock.
I expect both Alexis and Ozil will stay at the club for next season at the very least. This is nothing but some “pundits” and the press trying to create something out of nothing. Toady I also read somewhere that Bayern Munchen’s Arturo Vidal was trying to convince Alexis Sanchez to join him at Bayern, bypassing the fact the players don’t get on and are not on friendly terms. Expect a lot more of this kind of drivel. Arsenal are in crisis and the press love to sell turmoil, gossip and “insider stories” whether real or, as often is the… Read more »
Honestly Sanchez can go. He hasn’t proven to be such a world class player this season. Where would he play in Bayern? At Douglas Costa’ place? Müller’s place? Give me a break… They both are better!
Honestly Özil will go. At least i wish it for him.
Why would you wish for Ozil to leave?
Don’t you think it might be a good idea for Arsenal to keep their best players if they want to improve?
Are you a spud or something?
Did you sell both of them in your FIFA 16 career mode?
Maybe if we had a world class striker there would be less pressure on Sanchez and teams wouldn’t focus on him so much.
And have you not seen the amount of assists as well as chances created by Ozil?
Hmmmm, seems like Sp*urs in disguise.
FOREVER COYG!!!
Won’t there be a press conference tomorrow, before the WBA match on Thursday?
Özil and Alexis have been key parts of a team that has played relatively poorly, so I expect they’ll be looking at their performances too rather than just thinking ‘I’m outta here’…. It’s a team game. Also it’s their job, and other factors such as them being happy in London, with the club set up etc…results are important, but as an employee, there will be other factors… Finally, if Wenger goes at lot will depend on who he is replaced by…Gary Neville might cause different response than Diego Simeone for example
It is a team game. But when almost everybody in your team is kinda shitty, you want to go somewhere else.
Take off the Arsenal tinted glasses and look at the situation.
Ozil, best friend in the club leaving in the summer. The wages he’s offered here he can get elsewhere if not even more. He can go a club who are guaranteed silverware. Why would he stay?? We’re a club not going anywhere and its sad to think that but its true. Look back at blogs from 6,5,2 years ago. Same stories of players leaving and botched title bids. People will say we have money but it’s no use to us in the bank!
“He can go a club who are guaranteed silverware.”
Great players like Bergkamp. Henry and Pires didn’t come to Arsenal for “guaranteed” silverware. Neither did Ozil and Sanchez. Arsenal have a manager and footballing philosophy which is respected throughout the footballing world. We have our faults and as comedic as they are in their familiarity, Ozil and Sanchez have not endured 10 years of heartbreak. They have been at the club for 2-3 seasons, won a couple trophies and may even sense promise of bigger trophies.
That is an interesting and actuallly sensical way of looking at it. I hope you’re right.
Seriously, why are people worried? We have been shit with them in the team so maybe someone else can do better? Plenty more fish in the sea. The dynamic of the team is wrong and Leicester have proved you don’t need big names to be successful….
There seems to be an element of delusion in this blog post. To call the article in the Times a ‘non-story’ is indicative of a degree of denial or arrogance rather that they cannot leave. Of course they can. Ozil and Sanchez (save for a dip in form after his injury) have played consistently well since signing for us. No other outfield player has. If they leave the blame will solely be Wenger’s. His inability to add further quality to the squad is the key driver behind what I presume Ozil and Sanchez’s refusal to sign a new contract and… Read more »
For me we 2 types of players. Those that are lucky to be at a club like ours ie Walcott, Ramsey the ox giroud etc and those we are lucky to have.sanchez,cech Ozil and 2 or 3 others
If we don’t invest in the talent that some of these players deserve to play with and give them the chance to win the trophies thier talent warrants then they could and should leave and I would back them 100%.
Unless we get rid of this loser boss and bring in somebody who can take us to the next level then the real talent WILL go.
It’s not a question now of players but management,
I don’t think this is even up for debate any more.
Loser boss? He, who was so committed to the club deserves some respect.
Not any more. He’s a loser. This season, his team has collapsed yet again. From leading the table at Christmas we are now yet again fighting for fourth.
He should have walked away from the club years ago, but he didn’t because he’s an arrogant man.
He’s a loser.
Lost my belief that Wenger was capable of winning another title during that catatonic 2008-12 period. What I didn’t lose is my respect for him. He was the one who told us white lies about having money to spend after the stadium move, which I have never forgotten. He carried the dirty water for a group of directors who were happy to cash in on their shares and effectively set Arsene a target of “qualify for the Champion’s League” so that what Arsenal represents today is more “cash cow” than “ruthlessly ambitious sports club”. He’s the result of the leadership… Read more »
Who’s to blame for all these?
*This – Please see the comments policy. Typical Nigerians and their poor grammar. And no, I’m not racist. I’m half Nigerian myself.
No, you are being a dick. Saying you’re half nigerian doesn’t change it.
Where did the other half come from Dickville?
hahaa
Seriously Bergkamp 3:16 who would believe we have a global fanbase and that not all of them have perfect grammar and Queens English? Doesn’t matter as long as its legible.
Fair enough mate. Fair point. It’s just that living in Nigeria it gets quite annoying when you see the frequent poor use of grammar. You only have to visit popular Nigerian blogs to catch my drift. That said, I welcome our huge global fan base 🙂
I’m not overly worried about Sanchez – he’s been poor in Arsenal colours for the best part of a year now.
On the other hand, Ozil leaving would be awful. It really is criminal that week after week he’s putting it on a plate for the likes of Wellbeck, Giroud, and Walcott. We don’t even need a world class striker (although it would be nice) – just get a proper finisher or two for Christ’s sake.
The story is obviously bullshit when it suggest we are only offering them a 20k bumper pay, as if it wasn’t offensive enough in the first place to have the same wage as Walcott.
Anyway I hope they stay, but honestly why even care? Whether they are here or not our performance and results won’t change much. A team with Cazorla as the only bright player and a front three of Giroud, Podolski and Walcott outperformed them. So I’m sure regardless of if they stay or go, out fate won’t change much.
Was wondering this the other day:
What if we had kept Podolski and shipped Theo?
Not sure I am enjoying all this downbeat chat. I find the comments delusional. Even blogs..’this is the worst ever!’ Excuse me.
We are third/fourth in the league ahead of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, all Champions League winners, or have we no memory?
We have no right to win the league every year. We have no right to be in the top four every year.
What this team and manager do is fantastic. I wish them luck to win the trophies they want next year.
David – I find it rather ironic that you’re finding other comments delusional when you have said ‘what this team and manager do is fantastic.’
This site feels like quite a toxic environment at the moment and I find myself coming on here less and less. It used to be my first port of call in the morning but now I mostly glance at the headlines before deciding to read any further. I expect it form the comments section, as I do with all online publications, but Blogs used to be relied upon to offer reasoned and measured responses amid the culture of ‘Wenger Out’ and self entitled moaning but now it seems he’s either playing to his audience/advertising or has had quite a drastic… Read more »
I’ve only ever been honest about what I think and how I feel, and that’s what I write. Trust me, I’d rather things were happier and better, but I’m at the mercy of the 11 men and the manager and so on.
I agree some of it has to be on the players, but ultimately it comes down to AW for me. He’s someone I still think is a brilliant man, but you can hold that opinion and also believe we could be better off with a man in charge.
I haven’t got a problem with anyone wanting a change of manager, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, although personally I think it should happen after his contract is up and without the banners and abuse. What I find irritating is the sense of doom every time we don’t win a game. Admittedly, giving away a 2-0 lead is pretty shocking but a draw against West Ham away this season is not a bad result. It seems like everyone is ready to start self harming every time we don’t take all 3 points, let alone we should lose. People are… Read more »
I think the writing has been fair. Acknowledging our failings while still showing respect. I agree, the banners / fan vitriol is a total disgrace but I don’t think this site has ever involved itself in such behaviour. Just writing about the flat reality we, as a club, reside. Questions need to be asked… can’t gloss over everything with blind optimism – leave that to the start of next season :-/
But fan bias aside a second, why should Ozil and Alexis sign new deals?? We have the best number 10 in the world creating chances only for giroud, welbeck and walcott to waste. Why should he spend the best part of his career here suffering the same thing over and over again when he could go to bayern, city or even madrid where he stands a better chance of winning the ucl?. Beginning of the season, it was obvious this squad needed 3 players to be genuine title contenders and it couldn’t be trusted to maintain the great form we… Read more »
Trez, Wenger didn’t build the club. He might say he did but he didn’t.
I’m grateful for everything he has achieved but let’s not forget we won 10 league titles before he came on board.
Since I’ve been alive, Anfield 89 has been the greatest moment I’ve experienced as a fan. I don’t believe this moment has ever been ever been matched.
This is 2017’s problem. Another season of shite and they’re gone – Ozil back to Germany and Sanchez to Spain
Our top players always leave when they see Wenger for what he really is, and these two won’t be any different. Expecting at least one of them to be gone this summer. Although to be honest, I don’t see Ozil as a top player really. He’s quite overrated – people talk up his assists and chances created figures but they’re only that high because he lacks courage in goal scoring. We need to improve our goals scored figure and if we can’t sign a better striker, than a better goal scoring midfielder than Ozil would do it. The only reason… Read more »
Have another guess, mate
Bollocks
Food for thought. For the long time Arsenal fans…I Understand that Wenger did not build the club. I understand you feel it is your club. I realize this is part of the unwritten contract/deal between a sports club and fan club. The question is….do you understand that 1) Arsenal has grown from a “small” club in the WORLD view under Wenger 2) Wenger and his style, philosophy, loyalty are the fertilizer that feeds and grows much of the ” new” “big” Arsenal we all know today. 3) If he is shoved out by “mob” type behavior….many of us will lose… Read more »
Re: point 3) above:
Bye then.
Completely agree. I have been a season ticket holder for years, with three children, that’s quite an investment, 4 season tickets every year. Its never been so bad at games. Absolute thugs in front of us, scream foul mouthed rants and curses at the team and Wenger from the kick offs. Truly aggressive nasty negative stuff. It isn’t enjoyable anymore. I often say to my children, that if these guys put so much hate emotion into football, their private lives must be dreadful. I go back to my earlier post, which was roundly thumbed down. We have no right be… Read more »
you do realize that we are playing absolute shit football. i mean, it’s hard to watch it’s so bad. isn’t it clear that he’s lost the dressing room? how much more of a poor manager do you want to put up with for the sake of sentimentality? it’s not mob rule, it’s fan dissatisfaction with the excuses wenger serves up year after year. this year he has no excuse. he has been dreadful. when you’re shit at your job you don’t get rewarded with a raise and contract extension do you? why should wenger?
Can’t help suspecting that you view the majority as ‘the mob’ because you disagree with them.
If you don’t like passion in the stands you could go to the family enclosure or go to Fulham. Maybe you’d prefer it if all the plebs were priced out and only nice, polite, upper middle class people and tourists were allowed in.
If you don’t like passion in the stands, then Arsenal is the perfect club for you.
Nobody’s leaving this summer, but if we don’t sign some big players this summer they may well not sign new deals, which means we’ll have to sell them next summer.
The fact it’s mentioned in the Times doesn’t make it any less Bullshit than if it was in the Sun.
Basically it was never the intention of the club to discuss new contracts with them during the season.
If they haven’t signed at the beginning of next season then it becomes a ‘story’ until then it’s newpaper-bullshit…
Consider this….maybe some of the players who are loyal to their manager like he is loyal to them….maybe they are now waiting to jump from a sinking ship….a ship sinking under the massive weight of toxic fans and their spoiled attitudes?? I can bet you just as many players are questioning long-term contracts based on whether or not their manager will stay… Because they want him to stay.
Here’s another thing you should consider. Maybe, just maybe, when good players are contemplating signing for us in the future (read, next season) they will look at this squad and look at the man in charge of it all who has managed to degrade the level of football played by these players to the absolute fucking lowest point it’s been in a decade (while making two record-breaking signings). And maybe, just maybe, they won’t be so excited to sign for us. The situation with Ozil and Alexis was way different. Back then he was a manager who supposedly ‘overachieved’ in… Read more »
Wenger must wise up and show these two that Arsenal are serious about improving in the this summer’s transfer market or he’ll witness two world class players leave to contending teams in their respective primes. It doesn’t matter who insists upon him that he has to buy big whether its Gazidis, Usmanov, Kroenke, his wife or his dog someone has to shake him out of this malaise. We know he has too much power and not enough accountability, but if he doesn’t change, I fear that Arsenal could potentially face a Liverpool like fall down the League. Until I see… Read more »
Shanchez and Ozil arent silly they knew they would learn a lot at Arsenal under Wenger
. If we fail to qualify for the UCL, in regards to being able to attract more world class players will Arsenal will be set back 10 years