Arsene Wenger says negotiations with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have been put on hold until the summer after contract talks stalled with both players.
The Gunners have been trying to persuade their star duo to sign new deals at the Emirates for the best part of a year, however, with both men out of contract in July 2018 they could be forced to sell at the end of the season or risk losing them for free further down the line.
Speaking to beIN Sport about the talks, Wenger confirmed: “At the moment we have not got an agreement.
“We have decided to focus on the end of the season and talk about it in the summer, it is the same situation with Ozil because once you don’t find an agreement and it [the negotiation] lasts, it is not good so it is better you get it out and sit down in the summer.”
Alexis has been heavily linked with a move away from the club with Paris Saint Germain, Juventus, Manchester City and clubs in China all touted as possible destinations. It’s understood that Arsenal would be open to cashing in on the 28-year-old.
Ten days ago, Ozil said about his future: “Everything is open. We had talks with Arsenal. Right now I’m concentrating on the current season.
“Arsene Wenger was one of the main reasons I joined Arsenal. But I know that sometimes things go very fast in football and that you can never plan something.”
Hmm. None of this is sounding particularly positive.
As part of the same interview, Wenger discussed his future, the banners at West Bromwich Albion and maintaining perspective. You can read those quotes here.
Here’s a puppy looking at a kitten to cheer you up.
They gone.
Yep, both of them gone.
What is important now is get the maximum possible sale price and reinvest that money in new world class players.
None will come, and we are eventually running out of gold to cash in on.
Seriously Spinner we have flogged all our gold for the last ten years, to rival teams on occasion as well. Hard to attract world class players to play with a squad minus Ozil and Sanchez.
He keeps banging on about what he has achieved here and made the club what it is today. He’s right and that is how he should leave it, because right now he is doing a greater job of dismantling everything he has achieved!
or we could just spend the next year looking at puppies and kittens…
that would bring a calm I dearly need
except looking at that kitten’s ears make me thinks puppy is just about to be well cuffed on the shnozzer!
Yeah, like I don’t know how we are going to attract top drawer players anymore. Those guys leaving this summer will make us look like absolute mugs, it literally labels us small timers, because lets not forget, they both came from bigger clubs to join Arsenal. We didn’t pick them out of ‘small’ little European feeder clubs, those guys left Barcelona and Real Madrid, and after 2/3 seasons with us they have deciphered that we aren’t ever going to win the big competitions so they’re offski. After those guys go, you think any decent top drawer player is going to… Read more »
And the most important thing for Arsenal Inc.; paying the most expensives tickets in London
So negative. …
it’s the truth. Our best players have been leaving us for more than 10 years because the manager is clueless and the club in general is a business with no ambition but to make profits.
This is why we say : wenger out !
Clueless. .? My god…who do you think have brought them here in the first place,
Question is why would they stay when banners are flying asking for the head of the man they trust the most?
..i think it is time fan take responsibility for their actions …and act responsibly.
This makes me laugh do hard. Thanks mate 😀 I’m resigning from my post as ‘influential supporter’ who’s caused a stale atmosphere, lack of ambition, and tactical naivety.
Players leave because of the banners? Lol, ask Van Persie and Fabregas why they leave us. It’s about ambitions of the club and how club respect them.
my money, your money thats what brought them here. Players are mercenaries and go where the money is. Naive to think anything else. To think they came because all the champions league titles arsene has won or all the premier titles that have come arsenals way in the last 10 years or so. Money is what runs football and footballers. If they can move to a club that wins things and pays them more then jackpot. But bollox at their level is it Wenger. Find a current a current player who would say a bad word against the manager, impossible,… Read more »
The behaviour of some of the fans regarding Ozil has been plain stupid. They’ve gone full pundit on us in doing their best to alleniate our record signing because he has poor body language.
We did not sign him because of his tackling or his physicality, nor will his next club sign him for these reasons; and yet, some expect him to go full Coq.
Wenger has no idea how to deal with big name players and as a result, they always leave. He’s excellent at getting the most out of our younger players, putting his arm around them and being a father figure but big players like Fabregas, Van Persie, now Ozil and Sanchez, just leave the minute they get a sniff of another club. We are terrible negotiators, provide no reason for these players to stay and lack the ambition required for career minded footballers to bother hanging round. Careers are short, why spend them getting 4th spot and spanked in the Champs… Read more »
My like buttons have yes!
didint knew we had to take that atom and humber banner so fast
The truth is I have accepted that as a fact for awhile now..
I asked myself are they the best players to ever had the club’s crest on their chest?.
Better players have come and gone and we are still here ..we will be long after they’ve gone..
the stats show that we have not won the league since they’ve been here …and not even come close so what’s the point…
Lets invest the money in players who are ready to die for the cause and we will win the elusive EPL..
If they leave I don’t see us attracting top quality talent. The signal would be loud and clear, we’re not a top team and we can’t compete for the top trophies. Best bet would be to find a Kante-like gem but when’s the last time we did something like that? More likely they’ll just end up part of Wenger’s Could-Have-Should-Have Xl
Actually Top quality talent is attracted to good projects. Arsenal under Wenger are a club with a downward trajectory. If Wenger leaves and a class manager comes in, then suddenly the project livens up again. Arsenal have money to spend now. Only problem is that Wenger wasted nearly 100 mil of it last summer window on players who have not been that good. Xhaka Mustafi have not been upto the mark, and Lucas has hardly played. Its their first season and so lets not go overboard, but if Arsenal give that same money to the next manager then the Arsenal… Read more »
Totally disagree with you about Xhaka. One of the best summer signings.
He’s the second best of those three. Mustafi is really poor and he’s a panic buy. He wasn’t good enough for Arsenal before he joined and he will never be.
Lucas is the second best winger/striker we have and I can’t understand why Wenger won’t play him.
I new nothing of Xhaka before he signed but I had high hopes but he is clumsy, slow and an ugly player. He might come really good, he is young, he has good vision and a great left foot, but he must improve a lot next season to convince me.
I’m lost so did he waste £100m or not. Have they not been good enough or is it first season teething troubles.
Yeah 100 mil later Arsenal are in 6th. Do you really need me to spell it out for you.
Let the descend to mid table obscurity begin. 20 years of hard work are starting to circle the drain.
By the way, which world class players want to come to Arsenal? We don’t win anything and we pay outdated wages so fuck boy Kroenke can line his pockets. This club is pissing me off right now.
They’re both gone. And you know what? I’m ok with that. It doesn’t hurt like the ones in the past. We had a better striker (Rvp) and a better midfielder (cesc ) walk away and we keep going. I can’t be fussed about losing a primadonna crybaby and some soft wanker who goes missing when the shit is on the line.
Let me fix that for you:
“We had a better striker (Henry) and a better midfielder (Vieira) walk away and we keep going.”
Clive, you’re also correct. And Henry and pat were way better than these current two.
So by your obvious conclusion frog, start at Henry and big Pat go down slightly to Cesc and Van Persie and according to you down again to Ozil and Sanchez. So I suppose it begs the question who’s coming next?
Not my point at all. The point is we will move on and survive. For 35 years I’ve loved The Arsenal FC. Not Arsene FC or Thierry and paddy FC or cesc and rvp. Or ozil and Sanchez. Point is, better players have come and gone and better players will come and go. Red shirt, white sleeves. Up the arse.
And what have we won since then!?
Counterpoint – look back at the few wins in big games over the last few seasons and usually one of Alexis or Ozil (or both) had a big game. United at home last season, Chelsea this season. In this season’s Champions League group stages, Alexis practically scored or assisted every goal.
You’re on a slippery slope when you start describing those two as soft crybabies. What does that say about the rest of our team?
“primadonna crybaby”
Funny how you call a natural winner like Alexis a ‘primadonna crybaby’ and at the same time want us to be a winning, successful team.
Arsenal fans getting worse by the day.
I get your point. However…. alexis is and still will be a petulant crybaby. Whether he is a natural fighter or not is a different matter. His shitty attidude has mot helped the team one bit in this difficult moment. If anything it is destructive to the team right now.
put on hold for ever! Too ambitious for KSE anyway *slurp*
Both have been great for us. If they want to stay, great! If they don’t, then I really hope they like Chinese food.
We aren’t RM or Barcelona. We can’t have players with egos.
It’s the Ego of our manager that’s the problem not our players!!
At some point we have to accept that, for whatever reason, the players are not performing at the levels we know they can.
When you perform in 2 second half’s against Bayern the way they did then that’s not a manager’s ego. That’s a disgraceful performance from the men on the pitch.
Appologies for this one but the sooner Özil leaves, the better. He’s mostly always disappointing.
yup, I hated it when he got 19 assists in a season. I was utterly disappointed….
I suspect your memory resets itself every four weeks.
Its all about the kittens and the puppies till May blogs. You are doing a great job on that…. Thanks *sniff
I think you’ll find that its the Kitten thats looking at the Puppy, as he stares worriedly into space thinking about The Arsenal’s future
”Oh, the contract talks with our best players? On hold till the summer. Yeah. Makes sense. I mean, who would want to make the signing of your two best players the priority? Fuck that. We’ll leave that to the summer when bids can come in. That will definitely entice them to extend with us!”
Eejits.
Quite possible it’s the players saying wait till the summer,so they can see what their options are
He’s trying to to sell it like it’s the “sensible thing to do” when, like any other world class player, they want to compete for top honours and Wenger can’t give them that platform. Before Xhaka this summer, Wenger hadn’t signed a midfielder who could slot into the 1st XII since Santi Cazorla signed in 2012. And that was a guy we bought in the fire-sale at Malaga along with Nacho Monreal. He gambled that playing random squad players in midfield along with Alexis and Ozil could win titles. And now he won’t take responsibility for this catastrophic contract stand-off.… Read more »
Arsene may gamble with unproven talent, but he is nothing if not a sensible man. Probably invests his considerable personal wealth sensibly, drives a sensible car and wears sensible shoes. A perfect fit for the owner who can sleep well 5000 miles away knowing his investment is in the safest of hands. Honestly, if you were Stan K, would you want to gamble on a new manager?
Thank you for the puppy and kitten photo. It worked!
I’m actually beyond caring. Thanks for ruining my love for the club, Arsene.
Arsenal Corporation. Arenal FC is a romantic memory.
Will you start to love the club again once he leaves or once the board leaves or once Vic Akers leaves ?
That’s a bit like saying you’ll start to love your other half again once they get that boob job/Penis extension. Love for the club is unconditional (or should be).
Aw/Kroenke/even our best ever players are always only just passing through.
They should be irrelevant as far as your love is concerned.
They might have helped you fall in love with the club but it’s the club you love,not them.At least it should be.
Get your point & completely agree with the love for the club should always come first. Just not sure that ANYONE could ever love Kronke or KSE.
Think he shares your thinking, in that love for Arsenal (& the cash cow that it is specifically for him) will come first. He will never sell as it’s a safe investment for him (& ONLY an investment for him). He views the fans as just passing through…
Arsene did not ruin the club. Kroenke did. Arsene is the man desperately losing the battle to keep the whole thing afloat because STAN COULDN’T GIVE A FLYING FUCK. No manager coulld have succeeded in a context of an apathetic owner. We should have been investing 2 to 3 times the amount we have because we have only been treading water. Xhaka, Mustafi, Lucas, Elneny. Who knew of any of them before we bought them for big money?? And if you heard of them who could say they were the big name we needed? They should have been the squad… Read more »
What do you think the market is for Ramsey, Coquelin, Gibbs and Theo? Honestly there isn’t much of a market for Özil. Our best asset(Alexis) looks hell bent on leaving. People blame Kronke and I get that but Kronke didn’t buy Sanogo or Kallstrom Wenger did. Kronke didn’t sell Van Persie to United for £24 mil. Kronke didn’t spend more on Xhaka than Chelsea did on Kante. Wenger needs to go NOW!
THIS
This. Fully agree
Semi agree with this. Firmly believe though, that the lack of ambition didn’t start with AW. It started with Kronke & KSE (who have never shown ANY ambition for any club they own…or actual interest for that matter either). It then filtered down to the board, & has finally filtered down to the manager & in turn the players. Think this whole “war chest” thing has been nothing but BS. Is the money there? Probably…But there has never been a willingness to actually spend it at owner or board level. Think AW has always had to fight for every penny… Read more »
I can see why Sanchez would want to leave and I don’t blame him. I don’t see him staying if there’s no champions league, plain simple. And it’s not like our other players are playing up to champions league standards either. Ozil, i think he might stay. Although I must say that an Ozil supplying through balls n passes to front three of Real Madrid would be a sublime thing to watch. Granted Zidanne gives him the freedom to play his style. The reason I say that is, I’ve been watching real Madrid games and the amount of space opposing… Read more »
I’m less concerned about Ozil the player leaving in terms of performance as Wenger refuses to buy a proper holding midfielder which means that Ozil’s refusal to do any defensive work is magnified but more concerned about the message it sends that the only top players in the side no longer believe in the project. While he’s not in the same bracket in a lot of ways it’s actually worse if the OX, Jack or Ramsey leave as that says even the players Wenger brought up no longer believe in him.
Arsene Wenger FC
The only way Alexis and Ozil will sign on again is to sack Wenger and bring in in a top manager with energy and ambition. Otherwise I wouldn’t blame either player for leaving
are sanchez and ozil the puppy and the kitten? kind of makes sense if you really stretch it….
In other words renew your season tickets then we tell that your 2 best players are leaving only to be told that because we have no champions league football we can’t attract or afford new adequate replacements.But thank you for your interest in our football club
Thanks Arsene
I think we are likely seeing departures. Plural. Wenger may have a slim opportunity to convince Ozil to extend short term but we are likely not matching Alexis’s appetite. BOth players came to the club off the back of dissapointing stays at Madrid and Barca where they felt they had their growth stunted. They chose Wenger because of his reputation for development and in truth, both have developed over the years at Arsenal despite our lack of title/European success. BUT I think they feel its as far as he can take them now and at 27/28yrs, this will represent the… Read more »
I think the market will be challenging. There are several players who can replicate what Alexis gives us. Greizzman is one. Whether he will come over to us is another thing. For sure, that 4th spot trophy will be minimal in any decision for him to select us (beyond silly United style money which we cannot sustain) A cheaper option and one who will still be hotly sought after but may be within better reach is Mahrez. He will give us threat from the right as oppose to Greizzman who is predominantly left side. IF we (Wenger) can add an… Read more »
I read your comment and I read it from bottom upwards. And your first sentence in ur comment is a great conclusion to your comment as well. (I don’t know how u did that) I agree with a lot of ur points although not all. I feel nervous about the transfer window. Because we may no longer have the champions league to offer. I think a lot of the players u mentioned would be wanting the champions league as they are from top clubs. Mahrez, I feel, for sure is signing for arsenal as Theo replacement. Not sure if u… Read more »
Loool you honestly think Mbappe would cost 28m?? Where were you when city had a 36m pound bid rejected at the start of the season?
Saul isn’t going to cost less than 50m. Stop dreaming
Oh yeah
Nice looking interface Blogs
Don’t know who we will restock with when these two bugger off.
I hope Wenger goes into the market for some unknown diminutive players about 5’2″ tall.
A new look on here!
A new look on here then or is my computer knackered?
Arsenal is going through a rough patch we’re used to seeing but perhaps this season is worse than ever. There is constant talk of contracts (Sanchez, ozil and wenger) and amidst all these talks our results on the pitch disappoint the fans week in week out. Why is it that we are so used to the club “throwing away a potentially successful season”? It’s time to focus on the club. Sanchez our current God gives his all every week and we do rely on him big time. Only problem is the club does not match his enthusiasm so why should… Read more »
Wenger Out. Had Enough
They’ll sign if the money is right, and we’ll make that offer to them at season’s end so long as there are not problems in the dressing room emanating from either player. Everyone needs to calm down. Both players love London, love Arsenal, love playing football, and perhaps even love the big AW. The uncertainty for us is no fun, but we have no idea what takes place behind closed doors and we shouldn’t let our worst fears take such hold. These are our players; we’ll sign them up, bury this season in an unmarked grave behind the barn, and… Read more »
Pass me that shit!
“Pass me that shit!”
lol – quality!
Why does the club consistently let this happen? These contracts should have been sorted by the end of January at the latest, instead of creating another swirlwind of speculation in the summer. Get your house in order, prepare in advance for any changes in personnel, and get on with your football.
Also, side note on the picture: “dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!”
They’re both leaving. Should’ve given them the 250k they wanted initially. Now we’re about to turn into a top 8 side. Well done Wenger, well done.
Don’t think it is all about the money. I imagine, given their ages, the desire for trophies also plays a part as well.
Alexis and Ozil are likely departures. We should consider selling Walcott who lacks nuance and Jack who is injury prone. We should try and release Debuchy, Jenko Plus the excellent Metersecker will probably step down (maybe he still has traction in say Italy or back in Germany) Ospina is suspect with crosses and defending his box. He worries me for the run in. Prefer to consider Szsceny to push and eventually succeed Cech. Maybe one of the left fullbacks (Gibbs) need replacing. Elneny to me is a mediocre player making up strictly numbers. Prefer an upgrade. Not sure if we… Read more »
EVen with the new site interface it still took me almost a full minute to scroll through all of this dudes rambling.
I tell you I never knew you two. Goodbye.
If for whatever reasons (valid or not) they should want to leave, then they should fuck-off. Simple as.
I won’t miss Ozil. I’ve said for many weeks I didn’t like his reactions to his team-mates occasionally getting things wrong. I used to be a huge fan despite the criticism but the statement released by his agent against Bayern spoke of a sweltered ego in a player that frankly could add to his game to help the team. If he thinks he is too good for us then go. He’ll play for a better team for sure, but it doesn’t bother me, he and Alexis are not Arsenal and Arsenal will carry on without them. It might be a… Read more »
We don’t know if we’re going to be in the Champions League and we don’t know who the manager will be so they’d be crazy to sign anything until those issues are clarified. Then they’d need to know if the club is going to add more quality to the squad so that we can actually compete. Mesut needs better players to work with than the likes of Coquelin, Ramsey and Walcott, and neither of them are going to waste the best years of their playing careers at a club that’s stagnating. That’s before they even get to talking money. Unless… Read more »
Loving the pictures. Makes the world seem a better place.