Mesut Ozil says that it’s crucial for Arsenal to know what’s going to happen with Arsene Wenger next season.
The German has spoken about how important his relationship with the manager is, but insists it’s about the club in general to have some clarity over what is an increasingly difficult situation.
Wenger has refused to be drawn on his intentions, while the chief executive Ivan Gazidis has resorted to back channel briefings to friendly journalists. Meanwhile, fans are left in the dark and it seems so too are are the players.
“It’s not just important for me but for the whole club,” he said.
“It’s important to know if he stays or if he goes. We need to think towards next season.
“He’s very important. In my career I’ve always made decisions not just because of clubs but managers, too. As a footballer, it’s important to have the manager’s trust and believe they can develop you.
“When I went from Madrid to Arsenal, I came for him because I told him at the time he’d be my first option. That was the case. We still have a super understanding today.
“I have his trust, he’s a superb coach. He’s been successful for many years, he’s been here for 20 years and has always managed to get Arsenal to reach the Champions League, making Arsenal a big club. He deserves to be shown respect.”
As for what might happen in the summer, Ozil was not particularly forthcoming but said talks would take place over a new contract.
“I haven’t thought about that, the club comes first, not Mesut Ozil or anyone,” he said.
“The team have the aim to reach the Champions League and I’ll fight for that. In the summer we have enough time to talk about the future and we’ll do that.”
“I’m very happy. I have a connection with the club. I love London, it’s great to live here but I can’t say today what will happen in the future. In the summer we’ll definitely talk.”
This saga is killing me. It’s got to a point where I don’t want to hear anything about Özil, Alexis and Wenger (on the contract subject) until they make a definitive announcement on their futures.
^You posted that using your mobile phone
but how did I know…..?
The umlaut on Ozil?
Yes indeed!
I’ve just already written it off as loss. Ozil + Sanchez are going. I’ve just accepted it. Its the only way to do it. We just have to find out how the car crash will unfold. I am personally looking forward to (not really, not one fucking bit) the hilarious panick buys we will get in to try and cover for them both when they are no doubt sold with about 72hrs left of the summer window. So who will it be? Who will be the unfortunate souls that waste the next 2/3 years of their playing careers chasing the… Read more »
Do you want a pill or something?
There’s a pill I can take that will make Arsenal better at transfer sagas?
It is all wearing very thin now
Guys completely on an off-topic note – I am starting to suspect that despite what all those ads say, there in fact aren’t millions of women in my neighbourhood desperate to meet me. 😮
But it makes no sense, why would those ads lie? I can never trust anyone again.
Happy to pay for some research in to the matter for you mate. I’ve just discovered that I’m the heir to $4.8m, all I have to do is give this pleasant sounding chap some personal details.
So I have some cash free to help you find out if there are in fact millions of women desperate to meet you.
Those lynx body sprays don’t attract them either 🙁
Show called ‘the revolution will be televised’ did a lynx effect ‘experiment’ standing in a street and spraying himself excessivly when a pretty lady passed by. They did not come a-flocking.
Feel there is no suspense. Its clear he is going to stay. The club are just waiting for a great result to announce he has signed. They fear that in the middle of this slump, an announcement like that would just invite fan backlash and ridicule. I would prefer him to win the FA Cup and then leave on that high. If he signs we get two more years of not even coming close to winning any of the two big trophies. That being said, if he wins the FA Cup and finishes 4th, then the board will be justified… Read more »
Wenger doesn’t even want to stay and make big changes. He wants to continue his own way. The only change you sort of feel he wants is that media and fans shut up.
I have never heard Wenger say anything about what is actually wrong with the team even once. He said he will buy players next season and that players should be mentally strong. Never have I ever heard about incompetence in how the team is selected for every match or he got at least some of his tactics wrong and will do much better next time. It just shows that either Wenger is deliberatively masking the faults or hr doesn’t even acknowledge them which is even worse. There is nothing to suggest that Wenger will change either by words or by… Read more »
Are you actually expecting to hear those things? That might be a strong contributing factor to your disappointment. He’s been here a long long time and has never shown an inclination to air those things to the media and I have no idea why anyone would.
Running a club is not some petty political blame game to be acted out on Twitter or in pressers.
Great comment, well said.
My dissapointment stems from the fact that he is not even addressing any issues in the team . every time I hear guardiola, pochettino of conte talk they address the issues in the team. I’m not saying he should start blaming the players for the sake of it but acknowledging a mistake is the first step. Granted it may not be wenger’s style to talk about in public , then how about taking some steps yo rectify the problems. He never does that unless his hand is forced. I remember in one season arsenal going to one season without additional… Read more »
There’s a very famous person who did all of those things and made himself a maniac in the press as a diversionary tactic–don’t be like mou…
Because you are not listening to his press conferences on the regular. He’s actually been very honest, he said the team lack balance between attack minded players and defensive minded players, that there is a gap between defence and attack. He said our short coming soon this season we’re more mental than anything, which is all true.
You want to criticize Wenger go ahead, but be fair with your criticism.
That’s where we disagree (not you, Wenger and I).
He keeps saying our main weakness is mentality but I disagree. I think our main weakness is lack of tactical planning and a strict tactical set up. Most of the time our players look weak and confused largely because they simply don’t know what to do and end up like headless chickens, particularly when plan A doesn’t work.
Then why is it that sometimes we can completely swipe any team apart, but other times when the pressure is on we collapse? I don’t buy this argument that Wenger is tactically weak. Yes setting up a strong defensive team is his weakness, he inherited one hell of a defense when he first came. But offensively it’s outstanding, when we play Alexis up front our front 4 is so flued you can’t mark a player man for man. The cohesion we play with that “tiki taka” that only comes with great coaching and being tactically intelligent. Our problem is the… Read more »
Correct me if I am wrong , I thought addressing defensive frailities in the team were part of a managers job. If he can’t set up a proper defensive structure what the hell is he doing at arsenal anyway. I think your point just reinforces the notion that Wenger is Jo longer capable of managing arsenal. He was the one who choose not to go after kante and buy xhaka. So its either he bought xhaka based on a preconceived plan and messed up his plan or his plan itself was flawed. And regarding us swiping teams occasionally, there is… Read more »
For me more than being unable to setup his team to defend properly, as harsh as it sounds I think Wenger’s problem is that he is a tactical dinosaur. He sets up his team to play a certain way regardless of the opposition. He appears to not particularly study the opposition and setup a team or tactic accordingly. This might have worked great 10-20 years ago but these days you just can’t afford to do that. When teams are preparing to play us they know exactly what they’re going to get. Our only tactical flexibility is fluid front three or… Read more »
Other than the 2nd place last season. Try to be a tad more factual to have any credibility to your comments. Otherwise it’s just same old tiring shit that lazy pundits and journalists trot out. I wouldn’t mind manager not renewing by the way. Just wish I did not have to read so much nonsense.
Say what now?
StringerBell I can’t tell what post you were trying to reply to. Additionally, I cannot even tell what exactly you are trying to say. Thats how little sense your post makes. Are you trying to say that Wenger finished 2nd last season so that means something? If so, then no it doesn’t. Arsenal were not even in the title race beyond March. It was down to Tottenham & LCFC to fight for the title. Tottenham really didn’t care after the title was lost and that allowed Arsenal to sneak into 2nd. Last season’s 2nd place is the most meaningless 2nd… Read more »
You seem a little polarised sir. Try reading my post again and see if you can work out to whom I was responding. it really is not the Spanish Inquisition. I await in eager anticipation of your answer. We can set a time limit of 20 minutes. Starting now!
Don’t know you need a re-confirmation, but here it is.
Your post makes no sense, and its not clear who you were responding to.
If you need a third confirmation, hit me up.
Your not the sharpest tool in the box hey. I will explain for you. Too drunk to be offside stated that 4th place is as good as it will get under Wenger. You with me so far?. I said other than the second place we finished last season which is better than the good as it gets 4th, keeping up?. The rest is really not that hard. I’ll give you another 10 minutes to see if you can tumble.
2nd without even challenging for the league is no better than 4th.
Under Wenger that is the ceiling for the club. Never challenging for the league, and sneaking into UCL only to get knocked out in Feb. Meh!
Surely only a Spud would try and excuse Spurs hilarious collapse at the end of last season by saying they gave up when the title was lost. They certainly didn’t give up, it’s just the harder they tried, the worse they played..
Watching the Sp*ds collapse was fun, but to be fair they just couldn’t be arsed after Chelsea defeated them. They knew the title was gone.
Additionally giving up is exactly the kind of thing Sp*ds would go 🙂
@Various_hits, don’t be disrespectful. FYI the first half of your comment is all opinions not facts. Saying us finishing second last season was the most pointless thing, spurs were challenging and we weren’t, and they didn’t care that’s why they gave us 2nd. Are you a spurs fan in disguise? Are you as deluded as Tottenham fans and all the other Spud lovers to believe they challenged last year and are actually challenging this season? Really…Tottenham winning the league yeah? Come on get real, the only thing they have is a team that can defend. Alli and Kane ARE NOT… Read more »
Has it really come to this. It really has, hasn’t it. Are you really going to argue that going into the final few rounds of matches there were teams besides Sp*rs and LCFC in the race. Tottenham were well in with a chance, till the final 4 games of the season. The title was settled only in May. These are all facts. I need to point it out as you clearly can’t tell facts from opinions. In the remaining three after that they picked up 1 point, that is all that allowed Arsenal to sneak into 2nd. As for Arsenal’s… Read more »
Just as we didn’t challenge for the title, neither did they. The way they collapsed wasn’t a surprise. Just as we collapse every season, they collapse every season as well, but worse. Did you really believe that once the pressure was finally on them (which wasn’t until April) they completely crumbled? Come on mate get real. I honestly think it’s more likely that Chelsea go on to win the remainder of their games than it is that Tottenham catch them. I don’t even think the gap will decrease between now and the end of the season, it’s fucking Tottenham were… Read more »
I’m amazed by how much people at Arsenal can say without actually saying anything.
Agreed…But we’d still finish fourth if there was a trophy for that.
I would say certain players are waiting to see what happens with CL qualification before agreeing new contracts…..almost like qualification has nothing to do with them.
I think it’s become pretty obvious. If Wenger stays, Ozil will stay. And Wenger is probably going to stay, so Ozil is probably going to stay as well.
Alexis is the only real question here, at least in my view.
Maybe it’s just me, but when Ozil says “I can’t say what will happen in the future” I hear “I’m out of here”
No. Ozil is a sensitive guy who really appreciates how much Arsene rates him and how much he supports him. His future depends on Wenger.
so that begs the question, would people suffer another two years of Wenger just to keep Ozil,
Gladly. But that is just me. Ozil is class. So is Wenger. Keep strong arsene.
Both go now
Ones past it other too inconsistent
So…like..which one’s past it, and which is inconsistent ?
Turns out people here are stisfied with one win per mounth. And a FA per decade. They really seem to want Wenger to stay. The votes on comments are so different comparing to other Arsenal blogs here.
It’s not just you, it’s a lot of other people too. But I’m not included. You can read what you want into what someone says, but that doesn’t mean that you’re right. That’s completely your opinion and I totally disagree. Just please be aware you’re putting words into another man’s mouth, projecting your own thoughts, not his.
So when players say stuff like that, it’s really for the benefit of the negotiating leverage their agent(s) have. Saying that you would like to stay no matter what in public as a public figure is like handcuffing yourself to the club, and therefore unable to improve your $$ position there. Even if the player doesn’t care all that much, or has already decided, not being ambiguous will hamstring his agent who’s negotiating for pay, etc. on his behalf.
So yeah (thankfully) just you! haha
So all the players want him to stay (some may say because he covers for them and gives them repeated chances other coaches wouldn’t) but if only they showed passion and will in all games regardless of the result to repay a part of the trust he shows them…
Absolutely bored shitless of all this now. Stay and sign or go don’t really care anymore but the indecision is damaging the club and is a rediculas way to run a football club.
If you’re “absolutely bored shitless” and actually “don’t care anymore” then you realize that you don’t really have to read every arseblog news article and comment
Yes I do realise. But you also realise you have to read an article to see if it’s of interest or not. Common sense really
Agreed…but not sure that it is actually “indecision” as I firmly believe decisions have actually been made all around. Completely agree that there is more harm being done than good. Just smacks of incompetence rather than some big master plan that is yet to be revealed. Just my humble opinion.
Have you ever considered that they are all playing to the best of their ability and that collectively, they’re simply not good enough?
Wenger says both players have a year and a half to go so there is no rush.
So Arsene, you only have less than a quarter of a season to go so don’t you think you should be letting people know??
You can’t have it both ways!
Somewhat academic as I think there’s a decent chance Ozil will be rejoining Mourinho next season.
If i’m allowed to say it: i recommend you to go on the Daily Mail site to read the whole interview. Mesut talks about other things and it’s a good way to discover more of him.
Already one negative response to a perfectly good suggestion.
I think the negative response(s) have to do with a reluctance to give more “views” to the Daily Mail. A perfectly good reluctance.
More with how needy people are for ticks
Not needy at all. Just realise how people never want to hear the whole truth but love being so negative.
It’s wrong to tell people to read the daily mail
Playing the waiting game there, eh Mesut?
Seriously, the club should announce the Wenger contract decision to the long suffering fans without further ado. If they have come to a decision, they better stand up and have the balls to face it headfirst. Every interview seem like a broken record with Wenger repeating the exact same things to the exact same questions asked by journos.
Ozil and Sanchez will both re-sign obscenely wealthy contracts (by Arsenal standards) with the club this summer. Wenger will also re-sign for another two years. A Director of Football or new assistant coaches will be brought in to mark additional change. The club will begin drawing up succession plans for the post-Wenger era. The club will act early in the summer transfer market to sell off a number of players and to bring in some exciting additions. Pires will do an exclusive Arsecast before next season, and Blogs will say some adoring things that worry both Mrs Blogs and Archer.… Read more »
There is no way Sanchez would extend that contract. He is moved by more than just money. An ambitious club were he’d compete for CLs would be the safe bet. He deserves thqt though.
This has all just gotten relatively ridiculous at this point. If he stays which seems pretty likely I hope (but am not particularly confident) that somehow this season was enough to shock Wenger into seeing the flaws with his recruitment and coaching. Maybe he’ll bring in someone to run training sessions rather than just putting out the cones – maybe he’ll bring in a coach who will challenge him and he’ll listen to – maybe he’ll recognize the same deficiencies in his team construction that have been there the past 5 years- maybe he’ll recognize his “potential” players like Ramsey,… Read more »
Think Ramsey & possibly Jack are the only over rated players you list. Ox has been great when given a chance this season, & have always liked Gibbs (perhaps more so as a squad player)
So I get why people like the Ox (unlike a lot of our players he always seems to put forth maximum effort and has a good personality) but to me he’s nothing more than a squad player at a club that is actually challenging for the PL or CL. He is far too inconsistent, especially with his end product to be considered a top winger – he pales in comparison to a Sane or Sterling, etc. In terms of the central midfield, while he has potential, I’m not sure he really fits the system we like to play with Ozil.… Read more »
Translating Ozil’s words, using a translator made using the Babel Fish of Hitchhicker’s Guide To The Galaxy fame, I confirm that he is saying –
“If Wenger Stays, then I stay.” – Ozil.
For Sure Even Here In Uganda We Want To Know The Future For Arsene & That Of The Dual Star Prayers (ozil & Sanchez) & Who’s Next Manager If Wenger Retires? Arsenal Board Should Cralify That To The Fans.
What he doesn’t say is its also important for him to know what offers will come in for him in the summer. The agent will want to wait till the summer to weigh things being Ozil is now 28yrs. Even if Wenger says he is extending, it will be for two seasons max of which he may opt to leave in a season so any extension by key players like Alexis or Ozil will be very short term likely. As for the gaffer, as mentioned it makes no sense for him to say anything at the moment. 1) If he… Read more »
Doesn’t that tell you everything about this squad that if Wenger simply announces that he is staying, players don’t feel motivated enough to fight to the end of the season? They still can get into the CL with a good run. That tells you there is something terribly wrong with the team Wenger has built that players would be willing to cash it in without any fear of ramifications.
I would say I’m about 85% confident Özil will stay.
You mean to tell me his own players don’t know what he’s going to do? No other club operates this way. We’re being held hostage by a man whose time is long past! #wengeroutNOW