Arsene Wenger has hailed Mesut Ozil’s current form as his best since he joined the club, and that he believes the German wants to stay and sign a new deal.
The 29 year old’s goal versus Newcastle helped us win an important three points on Saturday, and it was a goal worthy of winning any game.
However, the Arsenal manager believes that it’s more important to focus on Ozil’s overall performance than spectacular moments like that.
“You cannot wait to score a goal like that every week,” he said, “but you can play like he plays usually every week. That is more important.
“If he adds that [goals] to his game, it’s even more important.”
The former Real Madrid man started Saturday’s game sitting much deeper in the midfield than usual, something the manager explained afterwards.
“He links up the play,” he said. “When you have problems to build up the game, he comes a bit deeper and Iwobi goes a bit in his position.
“So overall, we still have a good occupation of the pitch and we know as well that the passing starts well. I think he takes responsibility and that’s what you want from him.
“He is more mature, he guides the team very well, he does a lot on the ball and your heart rate always goes down when he has the ball.”
Of course no conversation about Ozil can be had without mentioning his future, and after his cryptic reply in the immediate aftermath of the game, Wenger was a bit more forthcoming.
“I believe he wants to stay,” he said. “He is not to be convinced.”
Maybe just convince him to sign the contract though, that’d be a good move!
I still think this situation is ideal.
Very ideal. And if he wants to stay and we want him to stay then what’s stopping him?? Just like how Wenger talked trash about Ox being the future of Arsenal and assuming a leader’s role, only for him to move to Liverpool days after. I think it was a smart move moving Ozil deeper, since cazorla got injured 2 years ago our build up in midfield hasn’t been the same. I’m glad 2 years later Wenger acknowledged the problem. I know this may sound odd, but I’d drop Xhaka and pair Coquelin with Wilshere. Wilshere is the closest player… Read more »
The more Wenger talks the more convinced I become that he should be given the boot. Most of the things he says dont even make sense now. Of course I cut him slack on the ozil situation. What else is he to say – no Ozil can’t wait to get the fk out of here. It however is a very damning condemnation of Wenger that all his star players want to leave the second they have the chance. van Cuntsie Cashri and now Sanchez and Ozil. Its clear the players don’t believe in Wenger and his vision. They are all… Read more »
Ox was the one who chose to move though. All our problems aside, Ox is a stupid boy.
Why is he stupid? Starting to look good and get games for a Liverpool side that are becoming a formidable attacking side once again.
The development of The Ox over the next season or two will really highlight how far Wenger has fallen behind in the development of players.
He was starting to show consistency for us as a winger but kept demanding a spot on the central midfield and then jumped ship to join a team where his chances of playing his coveted position were possibly less. Let’s see how things pan out over the next 12-18 months. It may or may not happen for him. For now I believe it won’t which is not to say that Wenger’s powers as a managers haven’t waned and he needs replacing. I think most of us think so by now. Another subject though. Ultimately, Ox or no Ox means less… Read more »
Wenger’s powers as a coach isn’t another subject when it comes to the Ox’s decision to leave, he left because he wanted to get better at the facts are he hadn’t improved during his time with us. I say good on him for being proactive in his career.
It doesn’t just stop with him, Bellerin hasn’t improved either, Iwobi looks worse than when he first got in the team and the less said about Walcott’s development the better!
And if Ox doesnt start to improve at a faster rate, will that show that Wenger still has it? Liverpool has roughly the ssme quality of players that we do, yet there they are right at our level. I guess Klopp must have lost it too?
Wenger should have tied Ox down when Gnabry was hungry to push into the first team.
Either put pen to paper then or promote the German in for more regular playing time.
He’s too soft on these blokes.
I said the exact same thing a few days ago about Coquelin/Wilshere. Couldn’t agree more.
Or maybe Wenger is talking out of his Arse Hole. Anyways, the situation is ideal.
Not sure why anyone would expect anything but spin from Wenger when it comes to contract negotiations. It gets him nothing to say, Player X doesn’t want to be with the club anymore, etc.
Saying there is no new development is different from pretending he will stay and have him and his agent laugh at you in private.
The agent might actually thank him 🙂 It’s in the interest of both the club and the player that there is minimal ill will. That’s why earlier in the season Ozil put out a statement claiming his commitment to the cause. And it’s probably why Wenger continues to say he thinks Ozil wants to stay. The guy is performing well, why not try to diffuse the situation anyway possible. Wenger and Ozil might be embellishing, but I think it’s designed to give cover and not create disturbances. Not saying I like it, but I just can’t see him or Ozil… Read more »
My Wife is gonna cook me dinner, what does that mean I don’t know !
Don’t let her leave!! Close the door!
If you are in the UK right now, then it means she doesn’t know it’s breakfast time.
She is a keeper.
Better get her to take her gloves off before she starts cooking then
Food poisoning??
Sïgn dä tïng ya
Ozil is 29, not 28. Sorry to be that guy.
Ta, fixed now
This is like a soap opera.
“Oh, Romeo, I love you, you love me, but we cannot be together! The evil forces of the Universe are keeping us apart…!”
More like, “Juliet, for another 75k on top of what you’re offering, we can overcome the forces, and be together for ever and ever, for the next 3.5 years”
So the only thing stopping him from staying is not meeting his wage demands. So technically it’s Arsenal that don’t want him to stay?
Ozil wants to stay & the club wants Ozil to stay. But both are not willing to meet each other’s demand. I hope this contractual matters can be sorted out soon so that Ozil can keep his focus. If it is true that ozil has put on a very high contractual demand, just give him what he needs. After all, if 90m for Lemar seems a good deal for Arsenal, this should be a piece of cake.
I agree, the only worry I have is that it will create a huge gap to the rest of the team. If Laca earns 200,000 and other first-team members earn in the range between 100 and 150k, how would they react if the club gives Özil 400,000 all of a sudden?
I suggest a 200k + 1 pound offer to make Ozil the highest paid player in the club’s history. Please tell me we thought about it at least.
If I was Wenger or the board I’d offer Ozil £200k a week and 50K goal & assist bonus, that’ll get him motivated…..
If i was Wenger or the board i’d give them all a celebration bonus to motivate them because none of them know how to celebrate a goal except maybe Monreal (I think his celebrations are adorable).
See the thing about a celebration bonus is you get a goal and a good celebration. So it’s a bonus on bonus.
Once you pay a marquee player whatever amount that breaks the previous highest wage, all the good performers want that salary in their new contracts. I’m sure Sanchez and Ozil’s current wages will already mean that Ramsey and Wilshere will have to be given upwards of 150K a week in any new negotiations. It’s more a case of Arsenal potentially having overall wages spiral out of control. There is a limit to what a club can do money-wise, especially if they don’t have artificially inflated sponsorship deals, or official ramen partners et al
More like his agent doesn’t want him to stay as he fancies x percent of ${fucking_massive_pile_of_cash} courtesy of a transfer deal.
Or maybe, just maybe, Özil doesn’t want to stay himself and all this social media personality is just some carefully crafted PR nonsense!
I mean, you do know that he is represented by his father..?
So? Anelka was represented by his brother. Didn’t make him any less of a shit-stirring creep when contract time came around.
yeah, but you’re talking like it is removed from what Özil or Anelka wanted. The agent is a smokescreen, blame Özil then.
It’s nuts, any decision that is to be made, has been made, this is pure PR now. If Özil wante dto stay, he would have signed by now. If Arsenal could just offe more money to make him stay, they would have. It’s done, he’s leaving.
Agree 100%
Who knows maybe this kind of talk from both sides is to attract bigger offers in the Jan window before Ozil “renews his contract”
Ozil is in the shop front window …. doing all he can to attract new suitors
more fool you then, the only way he will stay is, if no one wants him, or if wenger makes him an offer he cant refuse
I don’t always agree with what Wenger says but do with this: …”your heart rate always goes down when he has the ball.”
Wenger is just chatting absolute sh*t these days it’s really arrogant of him to think it’s acceptable. He doesn’t seem to have a future plan and you can’t lead without vision.
I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky y y.
What does that mean? I don’t know.
It’s the absolute conventional truth of reality as observed retrospectively through the lens of subjective rationality and perceptive realism.
Quite elementary really.
Thats just what I was going to say, spooky.
Your heart rate goes down when Ozil has the ball haha. Maybe subbing Xhaka at around the 80min mark might help with that too.
At least he’s playing for a new contract, unlike Sanchez
Looking forward to the comments when he goes to man Utd. Will he be as classless as he was witty kante when he said he went to Chelsea for the money
I can’t see how Ozil would want to play for Man Utd. Linking up with the master of anti-football is surely not an attraction. Ozil will remember from back at Real Madrid, the players practically celebrated when he left. Mourinho does seem to have a thing for Ozil, but the Utd rumours could well be fabricated to drive up his rate and contract demands. This is how it works unfortunately. Ozil’s agent knows he is in a fantastic bargaining position. If he keeps playing well up until January, Arsenal will have no choice but to pay him OTT to keep… Read more »
This is really wishful thinking, a fan’s view. Unfortunately Manchester United is one of the biggest and richest clubs in the world. It doesn’t matt what we think of the as fan’s, but they’re really in another stratosphere from us perception wise, as shit as we think they’re. Despite that Mourinho wrote the introduction to his autobography, they’re still mates. Özil wasn’t one of the players who had a problem with Mourinho. He was in a great bargaining position with us, but the decision has long been made, there is nothing to be gained from waiting to sign on with… Read more »
wishful thinking wenger, the only reasons ozil will stay is if no one comes in for him, or you make him an offer he cant refuse, other than that, he,s gone as fast as his legs can carry him, no way he wants to stay at arsenal
Well who came for him in the summer? Not a single club that is who, paying him £275k/week is insanity…
Everyone is praising Ozil s finish. But I think his anticipation of where the ball will be after the clearance is remarkable and worth more praise. Look at the movement to the right place. It’s just genius.
But only clowns wants him to stay, so what he got a couple of games he has been good in, we’re not paying him £275k/week nfw…
He believed Flamini, Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie all wanted to stay. My 6 year old goddaughter believes in Father Christmas but it doesn’t mean he’s real. Surely if he wanted to stay he would’ve signed up by now. Every time he opens his mouth it’s just embarrassing. I wouldn’t mind but you would have thought the club had learnt a valuable lesson last season with all the uncertainty around the manager’s inevitable new contract and yet here we are 6 months later. I’m resigned to Sanchez leaving in January so gets some money for him and use that to… Read more »
Credit to your God daughter her belief is probably based on the fact as far as she’s concerned Father Christmas has and does come every year.
Please….just offer him something close to what he’s asking and get it done.
Ozil will surely go to Man Utd. They really need a player like that, he’ll earn more, he’s free and, he’ll play Champions league, and let’s face it, Mourinho over Wenger is a total no brainer. This is surely a done deal. If Ozil DIDN’T go there, I’d feel embarrassed for him.
Wenger gets asked a question
and then he mumble-thinks out loud…
then everyone reads into it whatever they want…
Those who think he’s genius get to think he’s genius…
Those who think he’s lost the plot get to think he’s lost the plot…
It’s a game.
Meanwhile the team still has no clue how to break down a stubborn, obdurate defence of the very kind that Arsenal used to be experts at mounting.
I don’t think we have a definite player next to Granit.
Rather in 4-2-3-1, either of Iwobi or Ozil can swap and drop deep supporting him or attack the box.
Ditto Jack.
Left wing is Alexis.
I think Right wing personally should be either of Walcott or Reiss now.