Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal future will be decided in the coming days, according to Mikel Arteta.
In quotes that chime with what the player’s agent said yesterday, it sounds like Arsenal’s highest-earner could well be on his way out of the club during the January transfer window.
While Ozil wouldn’t have a problem seeing out the last six months of his contract at the Emirates – even if that comes at the expense of playing football – it sounds like a number of suitors are trying to lure in him on a short-term basis in advance of securing him for ‘free’ in the summer.
Turkish side Fenerbahce and MLS outfit DC United have both been in talks with the player in recent days with the Gunners apparently open to part-funding a temporary loan move.
Things remain up in the air, but you get the sense the boss would be happy to draw a line under the situation sooner rather than later.
“I don’t know what is going to happen,” said Arteta when asked about the German’s future.
“Obviously now he’s free to negotiate with other clubs. We will discuss internally what the best situation for him is for the near future, obviously with the player and the agent too, and try to find the best solution for everyone.
“I think every player wants to play football. This is why we picked this profession and we are so lucky to be doing what we do. For every player that’s not playing, it’s always hard.”
Pressed on whether the player could stay, he added: “I’m saying we will decide what’s happening in the next few days.”
Arteta went on to confirm that Ozil had been given some time off recently (presumably to hold talks with other clubs) and that a January exit could be sanctioned if it suits all involved.
“If something was sorted this month, it’s because it is good for both parties, it is good for Mesut and his future, and it’s good for the club.
“If that’s the case, we will move forward, or if its not the case, the player will stay here.
“He has been training with us, but he had some days because we decided to give him some days for something personal, but he has been training with us all the time.”
“We are aware of all the conversations we have had internally with Mesut and his agent, and this communication keeps going and of course he is free to talk to any club and he is entitled to do this.”
Arteta also made clear that he stands by his decision not to select Ozil for his Premier League and Europa League squads in the first half of the season.
“The decision has to be made when you have to reduce the list of players, when you have to play them or not play them all the time.
“We know that we have a really important player who is one of the key players in the past few seasons for this football club.
“We have to make a decision, I had to make a decision and I made it. I knew the consequences of it and now we’re going to have to make another one in January, and we will just putting the balance on what is the best thing for the club and the best thing for the team, and what the intentions of the player are, and we will try to find the right solutions for that.”
Yes
Not being said with any malice it is best for all parties if he departs as soon as possible….any chance of including Willian as a special package?
No malice huh?
yup. utter malice-filled suggestion. because you didnt include xhaka.
I can attest to that. He gave us some good moments, but never became the player we all wanted him to become…whether is it due to his own inability or the club’s inability to support him, is a topic of discussion that will continue to be devisive till the end of time without a resolution. It definitely caused a clear division amongst fans that needs to be healed.
Let’s move on.
I honestly don’t believe Ozil will leave in January. I think all the noise is just another pr thing his agent is doing. I won’t be surprised its February 1 and Ozil is still at arsenal and all those Fenerbahce and DC offers somehow fell through.
If he’s still here on Feb 1 it better be because we didn’t sign a CAM and he gets 6 mo. to audition for a good deal.
Doubt he’ll kick a football for arsenal again even if he’s still here come Feb1
Hopefully the fart is finally going to leave the spacesuit.
Sesame Street was brought to you today by the number : 10, the letter : O and the word : Divisive.
I miss Sesame Street so much!
Yeah man. It’s so sad that The Count was deported, Oscar got Covid, The Cookie Monster got type 2 and Animal was arrested at the Capitol last night.
They will be missed.
Extra credit for spelling Capitol correctly.
No you’re right. I have seen the error of my ways. Ozil has been brilliant in every game he has played. Moreover he has never gone missing for large parts of a season, quite literally as well as on the pitch and has earned every penny of his salary. He is in fact a magnificent and flawless human being upon whom we should heap unconditional praise for the way he comports himself. His PR attests to that.
Thank you so much for lifting the scales in my eyes.
I was just commenting on the fact you had 24 likes and 24 dislikes. Ergo your comment was divisive.
Man, it’s like trying to communicate with a bunch of defensive, grouchy adolescents on here…
Then you communicated poorly. And you do know that the numbers change? So what appears obvious to you does not to others. We’re not all figments of your imagination.
Again with the teenage strop.
And no I won’t raise your pocket money, not until you’ve tidied your room.
It also occurs to me you don’t know what divisive means. It means to split opinion. It’s ok, they’ll teach you that at GCSE.
That is So unfair!
Isn’t it past your bed time? 😂😂
🤣
Where are you going?
White Hart Lane, with any luck. It’s where he belongs.
If he sticks his head back inside his arse, he can roll there like a ball.
“He has been training with us, but he had some days because we decided to give him some days for something personal, but he has been training with us all the time.”
yes of course yes i understand
Lying doesn’t come naturally to everybody
Translation! Normally he trains with us, but recently we gave him time to go and do some personal business, but otherwise he trains with us all the time!
Ozil always needed some “time” for special occasions, as Ramsey once candidly expressed Ozil’s always been a teacher’s pet. Some people never change I guess! Glad to see him leave, for the sake.ofnjisnown footballing career.
It’s best for him and it’s certainly best for the club that he goes. It’s a new year so let’s bring this long-running nightmare to an end now – finally!
Exactly. It gives him a chance to start afresh – quite probably at Fernabache and resolves a long running saga in everyones best interest.
I honestly don’t get Ozil’s motivations. While I fully appreciate he is entitled to sit out the rest of his contract and get paid, why would any professional footballer want to do it? Its such a short career, and he’s already rich, so money can’t (or at least shouldn’t) be the major factor here. Surely when it comes to hanging up his boots in a few years, will he not regret the time wasted sat at our club. I’d love to know the non PR spun version of each sides motivations of their current actions. Don’t think either party comes… Read more »
Principled stand, is what it is. It’s time our club goes back to its ethics & values & stop treating players as commodities. Under Kroenke we even treated our icon Wenger so bad.
Add Ramsey & Ozil to that.
That’s a really dumb take. Ozil was getting paid something like 30 m gbp this year (salary & loyalty bonuses). He easily could have taken a buyout – if we paid him 25 m for instance at the beginning of the year he would have just needed to fund someone to pay him 5m for the year AND he would get to play football. That’s exactly what Luis Suarez did. This situation just tells you it doesn’t really matter to Ozil if he plays or not.
I personally wouldn’t sacrifice £5-10m to go and play in semi-retirement in either Turkey or the US but that’s just me and I’m by no way an Ozil fan.
I think it’s unrealistic to suggest that people would do otherwise when you’re not the one making the calculation and seeing the bigger picture regarding the rest of his life post football.
He wouldn’t have taken any hit at all financially which is the entire point. He either makes 30m spending the year on the sidelines at Arsenal or takes a buyout for a small discount (we pay 25m instead of 30m for instance). He would have just needed some team to pay him 100k weekly wage for him to make 30m. So either he makes 30 m sitting out a year at Arsenal OR 30m for the year playing elsewhere. People act like he would have to sacrifice 30 m to leave which is flat out wrong
Yup, this happens all the time in North American sports. Buy-outs for the majority of the remaining contract (but not all), sometimes players do it for very small amounts because their ambitions are to play. Then they sign for another team on a minimal fee usually to go and compete for a championship (again ambition). But all in all they make the same and sometimes more money AND most importantly they get to PLAY. This is what it all comes down to with Ozil, he has no remaining ambition, and no drive to play. If he did he would have… Read more »
Yeah I agree, it surprises me that a deal couldn’t be made in the summer, the numbers should’ve been doable when he only had one year left.
Btw, I think his salary (£350k/week) works out at £18m a year, not 30. So if we paid him £15, he could have found a club paying him £3m (£60k/week) and broken even.
Still, maybe we weren’t willing to pay him that much to leave. Would’ve been dumb on our side of so, given we’d decided not to not to play him at all, but we don’t know all the details.
We supposedly owed him a bunch of loyalty bonuses on top of the wages this year. He in reality makes a lot more than the reported 350k basic wage
Why would you just assume that the 350k is just the base wage? More likely than not, the 350k figure also includes the ill-fated loyalty bonuses and other performance-related bonuses. This would then explain why a buyout couldn’t be reached earlier, as a significant amount of money hinged on the loyalty bonuses. Now that they were all paid, a buyout is now on the table.
There are quite a few places reporting we owe him a large loyalty bonus at the end of the contract in addition to the 350k weekly wage. The weekly wage is typically just that – bonuses are not included
But all this is just part of the dance between Ozil and the club. Ozil is going to pick up as much of the money he’s can until it starts to affect his future earnings, and to be honest this transfer window is probably it.
The only question now is whether he leaves in this transfer window or can sign a pre-contract agreement
That doesn’t even make sense. He would have gotten 30m for the year whether he sat on the sidelines here or left to play elsewhere. Do you really think spending 18 months on the sidelines somehow increases his value or brand?
maybe he likes life in London?
During the pandemic?
I figure life is pretty much the same wherever you are these days.
Where did you get the 25M figure from?
If a deal was there in the summer for him to make more or even the same somewhere else he would have taken it.
And why would you give someone £15m to leave when the longer he doesn’t play the less money he’s likely to earn somewhere else?
What serious club is going to sign a 32 year old that hasn’t played for 18 months?
The club were right to put it back on him and for him to gamble his career
There’s just so much wrong with this – I get contract buyouts aren’t happening everyday in European football but they happen enough that the concept shouldn’t be this foreign to so many fans. Arsenal owe Ozil something like 30m for the year (salary + loyalty bonuses). Ozil knew full well he wouldn’t play for Arsenal this year so staying means that ARSENAL pay the full 30m but he doesn’t set foot on the pitch. Take a genuinely competitive guy like Luiz Suarez. He approaches the club and says “I get 30m to just sit here and do nothing. I actually… Read more »
Clearly the deal you suggest wasn’t on offer, and why would you pay someone the equivalent of 10 months wages to play for someone else? That’s like paying him until the end of April this year so he can benefit financially?
It’s just not a good deal, this way the club has made Ozil take the gamble on what the cost of missing over a year will have on his career.
You’re nuts if you think Arsenal wouldn’t have approached Ozil about a buyout. I’m sure we would have even sent him on loan with his wages massively subsidized. The reason you pay him the money on a buyout is you owe him the money regardless. At least you get to save a little if you buy him out. Ozil & his agent have made it pretty clear they would rather just have him sit on the sidelines and take pot shots at the club than actually play. From my vantage it appears to be pure spite on his part –… Read more »
I’m sure the club did offer to buy him out, but not at 5/6 of what he was due, maybe half.
Seriously why would you offer to pay some for 36 games of a 38 game league season to play for someone else?
B/c Ozil has been such a colossal waste of money that getting some relief is better than nothing. Add in the guy has fallen out with the last 4 managers & repeatedly takes shots the club on social media. Best to just be done with him. The club wouldn’t have made a 1/2 offer if for no other reason that Ozil would be unlikely to take it. The whole point is to get rid of him.
At this point Ozil is right up there with Winston Bogarde.
Fallen out with the last 4 managers? That’s interesting because 2 of the last 4 managers have called for his inclusion in the squad. What are these repeated potshots? Your scenario about paying out most of Ozil’s remaining contract is pure fantasy made up in your head & it’s what you’d do and while I can’t know it is highly doubtful been included as part of any payout discussion. Just for good measure you call people nuts for not buying into your fantasy. Because Ozil hasn’t accepted your imaginary offer which you insist was on the table you draw various… Read more »
Will you still be here in 6 months or will you be exiting with the rest of the Ozil pr team
I’ve been here for years & I’m not in the ‘Ozil Team’. I’m simply pragmatic. Omtting our most creative player based on last year’s stats was ego driven shite by an immature manager in my view. The phoney drill sergeant schtick and non-negotiables while guaranteeing Willian games sums it up. Not that I think Ozil is the saviour. But from a squad balance point of view it made no sense. This has been borne out in results, quality of attacking play & chances created. Maybe Arteta thought his man Willian was going to supply the creativity. There is no evidence… Read more »
In response to hanks post which begins with “I’ve been here for years” – how could any reasonable person disagree with this post? Words fail me.
Exactly out pf joe willock and esr id choose esr.. and oIl as the experienced world class no10 to guide them.. besides.. ozil would run a masterxlass guarnteed if not on a major basis a much better chance than xhaka willian elneny combined
While you are passionate about your argument it has many holes in it: 1. Not all conversations and decisions are based on simple maths like yours. For all you know, Arsenal gambled on the idea that Ozil would want to play and didnt offer to pay as much and Ozil gambled that Arsenal wouldn’t want to pay him as much and not play and it ended up badly for both. Maybe, it was an ego clash, a heated meeting with both sides not backing down. We dont know the facts behind it to comment as staunchly as you do 2.… Read more »
All of this sort of talk assumes Ozil is physically and/or mentally up to playing. He had some tough times with that attempted car-jacking and the way he’s been hassled based on his politics/background and the way he’s been hung out to dry by clubs/country that all wanted to disavow him when he upset the Chinese. Maybe he isn’t mentally up to playing regularly. The only sure thing is that we have never been told what is really going on between him and the club. Just because lots of people believe it doesn’t mean he is absolutely definitely doing a… Read more »
The dumber one is you here
so to be clear, you think it’s great that Ozil would rather sit out a year to ensure that Arsenal alone pays the 30m vs. being able to play and having some other club kick in 5m out of the 30m?
That just tells you Ozil has no interest in actually competing anymore.
It’s Ozil’s gamble, not the clubs, same goes with Sokrates
Your argument is based on a flimsy figure that you cannot back up.
Are you an ordinary idiot or an extraordinary one?
If he looks back on his career, and the situation he found himself in over the last two years, I cannot fault him for not busting a gut to play against European also-rans and struggle to secure 8th place with Arsenal in the league. He is not stupid, no serious club would take him on the back of the last few years. So why bother. And if he can stick it to Arsenal at the same time, the better for him. That seems to be his motivation.
You should fault him as he’s a professional and that’s literally his entire job. We’re paying him like he’s the best player in the entire PL and top 5 in the world – the least he can do is “bust a gut”.
Mate I would give up,some people just don’t want to use maths or logic.
Where’s the logic? Making up a scenario in your head and assuming both parties would be happy to do what you came up with in your imagination.
Arsenal chose to offer him that amount of money for a fixed period of time, and they were a party to the agreement of what value any loyalty bonus might be AND the terms in which it could be earned and/or lost. It is all governed by a contract they freely agreed to with absolute foreknowledge of all the possible outcomes from making such a deal. They don’t really need Gooners to fight in their corner for them as they were party to designing the corner they’ve been backed into. ARSENAL ****ed up. Not Ozil. They agreed to it. He… Read more »
“And if he can stick it to Arsenal at the same time, the better for him. That seems to be his motivation.”
That’s exactly how totalitarian states demonise anybody who doesn’t stick to the party line.
I wonder was Özil naive in thinking if he stuck around he could play his way back into contention?
The only dumb thing is your simplistic hypothetical scenario. You’re assuming our owners would pay out anywhere close to his full salary upfront, especially during this pandemic with a lot less money coming in. The Suarez scenario is false equivalence & doesn’t mean Ozil doesn’t care if he plays. He’s a person like everyone else. He’s got a young family & maybe given the short time between seasons and pandemic he and his wife felt uprooting so quickly would be hard to do given they’re reportedly well settled in London. We don’t know what factors are at play at the… Read more »
The timing on the cash flows is totally irrelevant – Arsenal owes Ozil the money this year regardless of when it’s paid. There are plenty of examples of athletes negotiating pay schedules with interest if they didn’t want to pay the entire thing up front. By the way we managed to find 45m to pay Partey’s release clause up front.
This Ozil contract has easily been one of the worst financial decisions in the history of the PL. Good riddance when he leaves.
I will be happy when this circus is done but I really doubt a full or close to full payout was ever on the table. If it is to be believed, Stan figuratively dug into his pockets for Partey and can’t imagine he’d be keen to keep pumping money into the club for payouts. There may be examples in other sports but I haven’t seen entire years paid out too often in football. Timing of cash flows is most definitely relevant as it’s common business practice to stretch out payments instead of making immediate full payments. Ozil’s wages are exorbitant… Read more »
Ozil didn’t play in the FA cup run which was easily our best results under Arteta.
I thought you said our FA Cup success was the result of pure luck? It didn’t really matter who played, did it?
Again, I say, Arsenal fully agreed to the deal as it stands and were fully aware of all possible outcomes. Good riddance to the morons at Arsenal that make huge agreements for older players, if we can ever get rid of them. At least we know when Özil leaves that his contract will have been legally and fairly fulfilled according to terms everybody signed up for. We still have more “Özils” at the club who will probably end up in a similar situation. That is 100% the fault of the Club for regularly offering silly money and generous terms over… Read more »
Thankyou ozil for the fa-cups and the truly brilliant alexis-ozil duo. I wanted you to leave arsenal since 2020, but now that it’s actually happening, i feel sad and empty.I will always love you and be thankful for coming to us in 2013.
if you feel empty because a player who supports erdogan and besides hasn’t been performing for years you should get your head checked.
Really? Opinions, everyone has one. Fucks are zero is his matches yours.
Wow
How do you hold that opinion on Ozil and at the same time then support a football club that has to actively distance itself from the state of large-scale ethnic cleansing in China?
There is no evidence that Ozil’s view on China made any impact on the club’s position. Literally none. And as Blogs has pointed out the timing doesn’t even match up; he played for Arsenal after his statements re: the Uighers. In my mind, the timing more matches his increased affiliation with Erdogan, his falling out with the German national team and the apparent belief that everybody hated him. He basically got in a massive sulk, from which he still hasn’t surfaced. He checked out, couldn’t give a toss, and stayed for the money in the most cynical manner possible. A… Read more »
Not saying I believe it but It’s perfectly plausible that his Uighers comments impacted the clubs position. Timings are irrelevant if you understand how China works when ‘offended’. Ozil’s agent Dr Sogut suggested commercial impacts to the club within China. This is consistent with how they operate. Trade relations with Australia are instructive. They gradually put the squeeze on entire markets such as wine and also individual businesses. They often don’t tell you they’re going to do it and when you ask why they blocked your goods from customs processing etc they don’t respond. It’s a far more plausible scenario… Read more »
I remember watching arsenal games at 3-4 am in the morning just for alexis and ozil. He served our club well in his good arsenal days and i am not going to forget that.
Well said
Defuntley well said.. it was a great era.. santi Alexis ozil and ramsey were pure class.. thats why we supported Arsenal becsuse of this elegance under Wenger.. i really hate how our club is right now.. management board wise
Not going to offer him an extension then?
I think once done with whatever football is left of him elsewhere, he will join politics. His team around him is quite smart enough to play their cards and pursuade the gullible. That’s all it takes to become a good successful politician.
Oh yes, I can already see the him standing on a podium with bloodshot eyes inciting hatred.
It is one thing to dislike, question him, but come on.
As ifff they actually asked Arteta if Ozil would feature on Saturday. He’s got two hopes – Bob Hope and no hope
Mesut wouldn’t be match fit anyway would he…but I guess the media have to try and generate a narrative.
He is without doubt a transfer coup for us when he signed, Mourinho almost committed suicide upon knowing Wenger had singed him, he provided immense pleasure and value to Arsenal along with Sanchez, he was well managed during Wenger time, things have changed when Unai came, he couldn’t do that, Managing big stars is an art not many managers possess, i believe Arteta could get the best out of him, but the club or shall i say Kroenke policy wouldn’t allow him to so in the end it is every body’s loss.. But should he goes or stays he has… Read more »
He was an exceptional talent. One of the best creative players in the world, arguably a top 5 player in world football in his prime. I agree with most of your comments, except the troubles were already beginning under Wenger towards the end. Such a disappointing end to his career, which for all intents and purposes is now very much in it’s twilight as he drifts to the peripheries in Turkey rather than challenging himself to one of the other big leagues. At Schalke and Bremen as a hungry youngster he did some incredible footballing things. I was immediately drawn… Read more »
Out of respect for all the American Gooners reading this, please don’t use the word “coup”.
On MO topics these days, I rather keep to liking and disliking comments than post my view.
same, but no real point either way… the club has decided he’s not going to play for whatever reason and we just gotta accept it. Any chance we can watch him play at his new club? is the turkish league broadcast anywhere?
In the US, it’s on BeIN Sports, but I’m not taking time out to watch like 2 assists on 30 matches or something.
Juuuusssstttt kidding. Calm down Özil fan boys and girls. 😉
Here (southern Africa) I’ll watch some on ESPN, they put a select few games live.
With all the other shit thats happening in the world this kind of fades into insignificance. That being said, it would be good to put a line through it (for all parties) and for ozil to move to a club where he might actually get to play.
On that rationale being on this website at all seems rather pointless.
Still nice to get away from the real world, isn’t it?
It’s all a bit absurdist, so why not?
Great. Hopefully we can now all move on to the next epic drama that encompasses this football club ASAP
Balogun!
Hi, my name is Willian. I’m on 220k per week and shite.
The difference is that Willian deserves the criticism.
If fans were allowed into the stadium, the boos would be deafening.
Really sad way for this to end, but my god am I glad that this is almost over! That contract was always a mistake for a player that, as talented as they were, could never win games on their own and had a questionable attitude. Long past time we moved on. Timely reminder that in all likelihood we will have lost Ozil, Mhki, Welbeck, Ramsey, Wilshere, Sanchez and Cazorla all for free! Combined with our ginormous wage bill and it really underlines the profligacy at the club over the last 5 years. In that time we have had one of… Read more »
Is it negligence or wilful corruption? Probably both?
So glad we have a new Ozil post. My fingers were tired from scrolling thru the last one.
Cheer up.
Only two and half more years of Willian posts.
He’s not really divisive though, is he?
I beg to differ.
There’s people who think he was a better choice than Ozil.
And then there’s the rest of us, with all our faculties functioning properly.
You have to think of Ozil in two parts, similar to Arsene Wenger. It is hard to believe how good he was in the first few years and then see such a shadow of a player later.
I prefer to remember some wonderful performances and even goals in his younger years.
You read it right,….. the intention of the player.
I see this same episode play out with Willian in the near future. I wish Ozil well in his next club. I can still recall the euphoria that heralded his arrival; I remember the twinkle in Arsene’s eyes when he gave a coy answer to the press the day before his arrival; how Mourinho pulled the plug on a loan deal for Demba Ba at the dying minute with the explanation that Ozil’s arrival plus Ba would make us title rivals. I remember his first game against Sunderland away, and the glorious assist to Giroud. Sad it had to have… Read more »
It really was joyous when he signed and that only adds to the sadness of how it ended. Still he did have a couple of good seasons and the FA cup triumphs. But alas it went pear shaped and as many have said on here it would be interesting to know what went on and both sides of the story uncensored. I suspect he thought he could play his way back into contention and was shocked when he was omitted from the squad. All footballers want to play whether it is on a Sunday morning or at the World Cup.… Read more »
Love you Mesut Ozil
Controversial!
And probably gay.
Just read that it’s going to be Fenerbahce. He has said before he wanted to play for them so it makes sense. I just hope he goes this month. For everyone’s sake.
Seems pretty soft to wish him out of the club just to put an end to the saga. Great player, loyal gooner, sorely missed on the pitch this winter. I expect his picture will be added to the walls of various gooner pubs when he’s gone. Its up to the management to explain this they’re the ones who benched him.
I’ll remember him as a fair weather player who was utterly brilliant when the wind was blowing in the right direction and he was getting his way. When it wasn’t, he was absent or ineffective. I don’t think his picture will be on any or many pub walls, and that’s not just because a lot of pubs will not survive the constant lockdowns and incompetent last minute decisions from the government.
I loved the guy the first two or three years but just want him to go now.
Would you not rather he played out his last half season? Maybe I went over the top on the pubs, but I’m not going to assume he’s done anything to spoil his legacy unless details are provided.
Cheerio cheerio cheerio, cheerio cheerio its time to go!!
With the right setup and players around him, he is an excellent player. It is a shame it didn’t work out at Arsenal but I do not bear him any ill will and wish him all the best in pastures new!
Thank yoi for your service.
Now just go 🤑