Mesut Ozil still plans to see out the rest of his contract at the Emirates, according to his agent Erkut Sogut.
It’s no secret that the Arsenal board have wanted to sell the German for the best part of 18 months, however, despite rumours of contact with MLS franchise DC United, no club has come up with a package to tempt the 31-year-old from London.
We know a move to China is off the table following Ozil’s criticism of the country’s treatment of the Muslim Uighurs and with the coronavirus pandemic set to test the finances of all football clubs, it seems very unlikely any club will be able to justify matching the player’s £350,000 a week wages.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS, Sogut reiterated what he said in February; that his client isn’t planning to move this summer.
“Mesut has one year left on his contract,” he said. “There will be no change in this regard. So what happens next, time will show. Mesut will be 32-years-old [at the end of his deal] and will have a few more years in his career.”
The agent also played down links with Fenerbahce and made clear that Ozil and his family will make a decision about what happens next, when the time is right.
Sogut has certainly been earning his crust in recent weeks. In April, after it was leaked that Mesut Ozil had decided not to take a voluntary 12.5% pay cut for 12 months – something the majority of his teammates accepted – he tore apart Arsenal’s negotiation strategy in a 30-minute appearance on Raphael Honigstein’s Steilcast podcast. Arsenal remain the only Premier League club to have negotiated a pay cut with their players.
Having stated last summer that Arsenal would not let players run down their deals, it certainly looks like the football executive committee will have to reassess their stance, if only when it comes to Ozil.
They have plenty of other work to be getting on with. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, David Luiz, Sokratis, Shkodran Mustafi and Bukayo Saka are also out of contract in 2021.
Am I right in thinking that the agreed pay cut was heavily incentivised, mostly around Champions League qualification next year? If a player was thinking of leaving before next season, would they be inclined to accept a deal that would return their sacrificed salary at a time when you’d already left the club and you’re not there to receive that money back? I might have got that all arse about face, and the point is moot anyway if you believe his agent and he’s staying for the remainder of his contract. Either way, I don’t think the pay cut refusal… Read more »
He knows the board is tryna tip off the players, I’m not a fan of Ozil but I do support him on this issue. Kroenke has made 300mil in the last 4 months yet no pay cut for him and his cronies but Ozil and the players have to give up their legally formed contract. This club is finished at the top level whilst Kroenke owns it.
The deal as reported was that any player who is sold will receive whatever salary pay they accepted in full – so Ozil would get all the money back. However he’s been pretty clear about the fact he likes London and isn’t interested in leaving & I can’t imagine given his performances clubs are lining up to match his wages.
Thanks for explaining about sold players, I missed that bit.
Well exactly, no one is seriously talking about Ozil signing a contract extension so why would you agree to a pay cut that would see any reimbursement only applied at the end of you contract? It doesn’t make any sense
Sigh. Most damaging signing of the last 20 years, and absolutely nobody involved in it looks good. When he is long gone the club can go back to something like on track.
No, not the most damaging signing. The most damaging contract renewal in the last…ever.
we offered him £350k a week for all the wrong reasons, not surprised he doesn’t want to go!
Yeah agreed. But atleast he didn’t stink the place like one Sanchez we managed to ship off to Manchester.
God knows whereof we would be if we had extended both their contracts. Auba is no saint considering his past(read about his pre / Dortmund days), so we gotta tread some caution when assuming that a contract extension would pay dividends. Personally, I would want Auba to stay, make no mistake about it.
I agree. Before the insane extension he was certainly no worldbeater at Arsenal, but he kinda offered correct value for money.
Nothing damaging about one of the most creative players in the history of Arsenal.
Auba leaving because he sees how much Ozil is getting and wants a big pay rise?
You do know Auba already gets about the same money. The difference is the structure of the contract.
£350k a week Ozil
£200k a week Auba
So not the same…
I like Ozil, but ‘nothing damaging’???
As I said the structure is different. Ozil’s 350k is fixed number. Auba gets 200k + bonuses which are not included here. At the end of the day he earns as much as Ozil.
Tell us the exact breakdown of their respective contracts then? Or are you, as we all suspect talking complete shit?
It is not that hard to look by yourselft. Why you are so sure about Ozil’s contract then? You guys love to cherry pick. This is supposed to be Auba’s contract: 198k a week – £15.5m ‘Loyalty’ bonus to be paid in 4 installments. – £2.26m ‘champions league bonus’ – £300,000 bonus payment if he manages 25 goals and assists in a season. – £50,000 for every league match he starts which arsenal win. De Spiegel also leaked that Mkhitaryan’s contract will have to be doubled. Yet people were suprised by this about a week ago. It is also well… Read more »
Where are you getting this information from?
It was leaked in the book Football Leaks: Uncovering the Dirty Deals Behind the Beautiful Game where it was also written about other contracts like Alexis’s at United. Do we really believe that Auba join Arsenal for the same wage that he had in BvB? Of course we had to offer him a big pay check. We just couldn’t afford to give him straight cash.
Olivije is correct about this – Auba’s contract is full of crazy bonuses. If I remember correctly the first installment of the £15.5m ‘Loyalty’ bonus was a £5m lump sum when he signed.
Rui Pinto the leaker was just released from prison a month ago, but is still under house arrest in Portugal.
What’s his stats? Something like 1 goal + 3 assists in 2019/20. We have an 18 year old stand-in left back who puts that to shame.
Since the contract renewal all he seems to have created is division in the fans. My opinion is 3 As are required Ability Athleticism Attitude. No one questions the first but the 2nd is waning and the 3rd is questionable.
Most creative players in our history? You can’t have been watching us for very long
Only watching for over 65 years. Yes I truly believe Ozil is one of the most creative players that we have had and remember he was the quickest player to 50 assists in living memory. He also helped us back to winning trophies as we won 3 FA Cups in 4 years. Ok I agree he’s not the player he was but under Arteta is showing he can still has class.
The most damaging person to enter our club is Kroenke. No one else has ever caused as much issues for Arsenal since I have been watching as this chairman has
Kroenke in a lot of ways is just a scapegoat as it’s easier for most fans to blame him than to admit he just left the club on its own & gazidas/wenger just couldn’t cut it the last few years. We spent a lot of money but just wasted most of it on players who weren’t good enough – Mustafi, xhaka, Perez etc.
Leno says his vision and passing skills are world class. Maybe his teammatesare not up to it. Those who look at stats see nothing – those who enjoy watching soccer see world class abilities
When was the last time you saw the so-called world-class abilities? Arteta will have to bench him because of his attitude. A player only on the take.
I agree but it was a logical conclusion of the double think that had shaped our contract dealings for the previous 10-15 years. The same attempt at being too clever that saw Bendtner, Djourou and Denilson etc wildly overpaid and then released on frees.
All deals negotiated from a position of self imposed weakness.
Ozil is Arsenal’s worst signing in history. Overall, worse than Arshavin cause Arshavin had many more good games than him. If you think of the money he cost then you kind of ask yourself if Cygan and Sylvestre weren’t better signings?
I personally think that whatever drugs or treatment the Russians used for their national team wore off and much like Ozil ability alone is not enough.
It was very strange how Arshavin just plain forgot how to kick a football. And it happened almost overnight
Forget the money.
If any other player had stepped up to bench Ozil, Wenger, Emery and Arteta wouldn’t have to start him. At least our current coach has integrated Ozil into a team that looks tighter defensively and attacks with some fluency.
By comparison, Andrey Arshavin in his last season with us was nothing more than a Christmas jumper-wearing Youtube star.
That’s a bit of a red herring in some ways as the issue has never been whether or not Ozil is our best pure #10 (clearly he is) but whether or not the team is more effective playing without one as every other top club in Europe does.
That actually underlines my point. Ozil’s an out of date player in an out of date position. And yet 3 managers as different as Wenger, Emery and Arteta all found him hard to drop.
He’s operating at about 30-40% of his peak ability now. But in terms of passing, his ability to find space, to create overloads and transition the ball into the attacking third, he still has no real competition in our squad.
Part of the reason he’s hard to drop imo the absolute circus that comes with having the 2nd highest paid player in the entire PL sitting on the bench.
Ozil does have the world’s worst “substitution face” when leaving the pitch, no doubt
That says a lot more about our recent recruitment in the attacking midfield position than Ozil’s influence on the team.
Kroenke is worth at least 10 billion USD. Özil and his agent made a deal with Arsenal. A very good deal. Özil is a good player and is donating loads and loads to charity. What´s not to like?
Ozil seems like a decent person. But on a professional level there’s a lot not to like: The petulant glove throwing, and having a temper tantrum the most bratty 6 year old would sit in awe of, particularly as he wouldn’t have been subbed if he hadn’t been stinking the place out to begin with….. His 3 previous managers all questioning his professionalism His performances that have regularly been stinking the place out since the first half of the 2015/16 season The arm throwing when a team mate delivers a bad pass, instead of tracking back and working as part… Read more »
If I could give this 1000 thumbs up, except you are almost too generous in your last couple of paragraphs. For me, Ozil is an insidious cunt. The sooner he is out of Arsenal the better
Thank you for this posting. Simply excellent.
Stop looking at Kroenkes money. Stop looking at Ozils money. Stop looking at people’s monies
Such a low percentage of games fior us where he has actually made a difference?
Does anyone else feel like ozil is square
peg in a round hole?
Emery built some hexadiacomical holes, to be honest. Square or Round, it didn’t matter one bit.
Arteta is getting them to function though. If you feel Ozil is a square peg, the gaffer has certainly created a square hole and for watching Arteta’s vision take shape, I want football to resume.
I really like Arteta, but the Arteta bounce is a complete myth. We got booted out of the Europa league round of 32, and we’ve played well for 20-30 minutes in games, but broadly we’ve been just as dire as we have over the past few years. I don’t think it’s a coaching issue, it’s a poor squad balance, and lack of dynamism and quality issue. We’ve got some talented young players, but they’ll need time. The last thing we need is a revolving door of managers, hopefully the fans show some patience, and the players don’t throw another manager… Read more »
I think criticism connected to the this situation are legitimate, but…
If not Ozil – then: Who will be the creative force in our team?
(because in this regard I can’t see anybody right now who could be our new Rosicky, Wilshere, Santi, Fabregas, or Ramsey)
We do desperately need creativity (as well as athleticism) in midfield, but Ozil is not the answer
If we can’t bring in a creative midfielder next window, I’d much prefer we lined up with a functional but boring 3 man centre midfield, than a lineup featuring Ozil that lacks aggression and positional sense and is still boring offensively
He hasn’t been a serious footballer for years now. Forget his talent, it’s a thing of the past. Maybe he could light up the MLS or Turkish Superlig, but not the PL
I don’t think Flash is saying Ozil is the answer. He’s just asking who’s gonna carry the creative load?
Arsenal just don’t have the midfield talent to play a 3-man midfield. Emery tried it, repeatedly. And it was rubbish. Arteta could’ve tried that too. But he didn’t.
Instead he re-integrated Ozil. If you watch Adrian Clarke’s Breakdown Special on Arteta rebuilding our attacking system, you can see Ozil is front and center. Love him or hate him, until he’s replaced, we need him.
Exactly…
I didn’t mean to say they were saying Ozil is the answer, just that if we can’t find an answer, we still shouldn’t persist with him just because he’s a ‘creative’ player He may be front and centre currently, but it’s not working and we looked just as disjointed offensively as we have ever done. I would rather swap out whatever marginal attacking benefit Ozil brings right now for additional stability and pressing of a 3rd CM. I believe Willock could flourish in this setup too, with more freedom to make runs ahead of the ball Ramsey-style Emery tried a… Read more »
Public Elneny, what we online commentators prefer tactically is sadly irrelevant. So is my opinion about midfield setups (I didn’t trash the concept of a 3-man midfield, I said we don’t have the right players for it). What matters is that Arteta gave everyone a clean slate when he took over, and repeatedly chose to start Ozil on merit. Arsenal has since lost only once in 15 games (against Olympiakos). We’re far from the finished article but when the season was suspended we looked much more of a team, and had the 2nd best form in the league after Liverpool.… Read more »
I’d argue the players you’ve mentioned (as well as Cazorla, Sanchez, Ox) were not just creative but more dynamic as well. Players that could drive the team from the engine room, we’ve badly missed that.