Arsene Wenger has dismissed speculation linking Mesut Ozil with a move to Juventus claiming the player is both happy at Arsenal and motivated to build on his impressive form in the final months of last season.
Reports surfaced over the weekend that last season’s Serie A champions were potentially weighing up a bid for the Germany international should either Paul Pogba or Arturo Vidal leave Turin.
Even though the rumour reeks more than an Italian hack’s prosciutto-flavoured fart, the boss told press ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Singapore:
“Ozil is our player, he will remain our player and he wants to remain our player,” said Wenger.
“During this period the newspapers are creative, and have to be creative, but many times the stories come from agents.
“It is a big season for him because he had a difficult start last year and in the second part of the season he was very important.
“There are many offensive players who have an important season in front of them but I’m confident because I think they have the quality.
“Ozil understands the rhythms of English football and he has improved his defensive attitude. He works hard and offensively he is a top class player.”
In light of Raheem Sterling’s imminent £49 million move to Manchester City, Wenger also clarified that the Gunners had at no point approached Liverpool about signing the England international.
“It looked a done deal for a while because Sterling was adamant he wanted the move,” said Wenger.
“It is a good buy for Man City. It is an expensive one but they can afford it. We never considered it because he plays in an area where we have plenty of players.
“We have Walcott, Chamberlain, Sanchez, Wilshere who can play wide, Gnabry, so we have plenty of players and he’s a wide player basically, or behind the striker.”
Don’t Forget, Ramsey can play wide too…
I’d rather Theo and Ox stay available for that spot! It will be interesting who will be starting at Wembley in the midfield 3.
I assume you mean in the cup final next May.
Why would he want to leave anyway??!!
*plays devil’s advocate* Not that it’s a startling revelation, but hasn’t Khedira just signed for them? I’m sure a number of fans brought up how close the two of them are when we were heavily linked. Add to that the fact they were the second best team in Europe last year. Not to mention they are a club of monumental history and pedigree, one of the most successful and famous clubs in the world who can at least expect to match, if not better, our international recognition. The Old Lady are quite incredible, and going there basically looks like a… Read more »
Good point. The serie A would also be perfect for someone like him and he wouldn’t have to get slagged off by dumb pundits for not “getting stuck in” and running like a headless chicken or get compared to overrated players like Sterling.
Surely it’d just be like when DB10 was at Inter, where his genius was just completely not appreciated because of how fucking boring their football is?
Yes. Very unlike how his genius is being appreciated wholly and truly by our very own fans and the English media, I suppose?
Yes they might be best of friend but if Ozil’s sway and the possibility of playing with his best friend now thay he is a free agent was not enough to convince Khedira to join the gooners before signing for Juve. What chance is there of the reverse being true? Much less for the pitance that they are offering, thats not even enough to pull Arsenal to the negotiating table, no it only gets you a notable mention in the sports section of a news paper.
Get your hands off from our mesut #YaGunnersYa
Secondtime!
This doesn’t really relate to the article, but I am an American who will be in England when Arsenal face Chelsea at the Emirates in January. I was wondering if you fine folks had any tips for buying tickets. Thanks and COYG!!!!
Find out when tickets go on sale and hope to get lucky. Are you a member at any level?
Unfortunately not :(, just a college student with a dream
Don’t buy online! Pretty much everything online seems to be a scam, unless you buy hospitality tickets through the club. We did that and it was phenomenal but FUCKING expensive (especially in South African rands). There are a few Twitter accounts that help to put buyers and sellers together that I think are more legit. @arsenal_tickets is one that is worth checking out, but I think that probably only happens a couple of weeks before the game. If you want to secure a ticket this far in advance buying through the club is your only option. Good luck. It was… Read more »
Or get in touch with Arsenal America and they can sort you out. They usually get an allocation I believe.
http://arsenalamerica.com/
I’m a Kenyan who travelled to London last year impromptly and I tried to buy a ticket. We’ll I couldn’t get one in a week. Try to buy one early enough
Try to contact some generous soul who is a member at any level who is not going to be able to attend the game to buy ticket in his name and then give it to you after you settle financial side of the deal.
I think that should be possible, A category games might be more tricky but should be doable. I am from Czech Republic and most likely will not be able to attend the game and also Red Level member, so we might be able to fix something up.
At the risk of being absolutely spammed to hell, if anyone would be interested in helping me out, my email is [email protected]
Thanks Eandy!
And I will of course make it worth anyone’s time and effort if they were to help me out
I’m in the same boat as Mitch — not a season ticket holder / member of any level, visiting the UK with my wife and parents the weekend of the 19th, trying to find tickets for the Arsenal / Chelsea match at Stamford Bridge. Friends have recommended buying from a reseller online. Any advice on which one I should use? Or, if, Mitch, your quota has been met: would you mind sharing any contacts with me? Thanks in advance! Alex
find gooners on twitter too @arsenaltickets bit hit and miss
Join Arsenal America or Arsenal New York. Foreign supporters clubs get an allocation that is made available between sales to gold and silver members. Deadline for ticket applications is usually about twelve weeks before the fixture, so you should be aware that there may be changes to the game date/time for TV. In other words, if the match you want to see is currently scheduled for a Saturday, don’t book your return flight for the Sunday! Book it for the following Tuesday. Note that you MUST be a fully paid-up member of the foreign supporters club to be eligible. Also… Read more »
OK, as always plan A would be to get a red membership and buy a ticket through the club. The upsides would be it would be direct from the club, at face value, and you get some choice on where you sit. Downsides will be: 1). The red membership will cost you around $45, but the cheapest seat you can get for the Chelsea game will be $100 on top, and you may well have to pay much more (upper tier roughly $130 and club level double that or more). 2). You will have to wait until a month before… Read more »
With an actual pre-season behind him, Ozil can inspire us onto bigger and better things.
The artist.
“… An expensive one but they can afford it”
Le Boss is such a class act.
No doubt that Sterling and Aguero will be a good pairing but £49m! For a player that wanted to leave. With that much money to spunk they could’ve taken their pick across Europe
Well, they gotta fill the British player quota…
49m gets you Sterling – unproven but talented youngster
35m gets you Sanchez or 42m for Ozil – global superstars
The PL is a great league followed by millions – if not billions, but its brought about some very serious local problems. None of which are being addressed.
They need to increase their number of “home grown” players now that the others are getting fed up with sitting on the bench (and taking home their humungous pay packets). It wouldn’t surprise me to see Sterling sitting on the bench for most of the season…
Let’s hope this means they leave Jack alone now.
I’d be surprised if Sterling hadn’t been given some assurances about game-time and he’d probably go so far as adding a clause to his contract that says he must start or get so much game-time (say 30 games if he’s injury free) or he gets a low buy-out clause. The club know he’s not afraid to say when he’s unhappy, so they’ll have to play him. As they’re desperate for some UK talent it gives him a really strong hand to play, or else they can buy 4 div 2 players to warm the bench and not effect the FFP… Read more »
Sterling had something like seven goals and seven assists in 35 games last season. And that’s worth £49m?!
Holy smeg, on that scale Ozil must be worth somewhere north of £490m, and there aren’t enough digits in the universe for what Sanchez is worth.
Statistically, Özil created a chance every 28 minutes last season.
The best creator in the best the league in the world. And he’s all ours! Mwahahahaha!
Raheem Sterling is a bargain. Only £14m more than Andy Carroll!
Sterling’s easily twice the player already
For Juventus?!! Bwahaha!! is he already 35?
raheem sterling – 49m
andy caroll – 35m
torres – 50m
falcao – (throw a ton load of money at him)
and then there’s alexis sanchez, who’s actually worth every penny
I actually think we were lucky to get AS so cheap now! But Wenger has that economics degree so he knows what he’s doing.
It was a Joke the Juventus Manager told his Juvenile son and the Juvenile Son in turn told his classmates who in turn told the teacher. The teacher called the School’s Director (who at the time was in bed with his wife who happens to be a reporter for a shitty Italian Paper) relating the same story. The Director’s wife got the word out and here we are. I would believe Real Madrid are interested in Sanogo…
Really strange Gnabry didn’t opt to cut his holiday short. He barely played for the Germany U-21’s and this season, particularly with Sanchez and Welbeck looking doubtful for the early part of it, represents a massive opportunity for him.
I don’t think any club in Europe would be able to afford him. Not the transfer fee, certainly not his pay packet.
All that is basically poo. Vidal is one of the best paid players at Juventus and he’s on around 80k a week. Pogba is on less than 50k.
Well meant Italy not Europe…
Why would we have wanted Sterling in any case. Who wants a little shit like him? City should have learned from signing Balotelli how to handle a wanker but they haven’t.
Maybe if you throw in pogba, vidal, morata plus 60m then we MIGHT consider listening to your proposal.
I hope he stays with us for years to come. Besides if sterling is 49m then Ozil must be atleast twice that. Don’t think Juve can afford this.
Good news that none of our best are leaving (so far)
Regards to those on the way in, anybody taken any notice of Muzziozcan on Twitter? Hard not to get excited by his tweets about a big player coming in given the dearth of Ars news.
Any thoughts on;
Who it might be
If he even has inside info
Anyone trying to come near my Mesuti can fuck right off.
Mesuti is a pet name. Not a typo. Don’t ask.
But no. He’ll still play Ramsey wide coz #YOLO
Slow motion genius
I love our squad, it’s great, but goal keeping wasn’t really our biggest problem, sure we had the odd game against Southampton but can anyone say for certain if we had Cech last season we would have got 10 points more, my point is other teams are strengthening and we are basically static, yes I’m a patient guy, Remember summer 2013, but it’s making me anxious…… Any one else feel that way ?
Nope. Feeling supremely confident.
well at least you can relax we arent selling our best player anymore
Does anyone here think Sterling is that good? What’s more he gives every impression of being a right pain in the arse. Home-grown players – that’s what this is all about. And guess-what – AW was well-ahead of this years ago: Wilshere, Ox, Ramsey, Gibbs, Walcott, and Szczesny. (Do Bellerin and Coquelin count as well?) Add Jenkinson, Welbeck, and Chambers and we obviously don’t have the problem other clubs do. Man City tried buying Delph – got rejected – and next on their list was Sterling. Now they’re going to pay further through their noses for someone else to sit… Read more »
The Middle Eastlands is the new meeting spots for greedy shitbags.
Bellerin is under 21 but will be home grown when we have to register him in 17/18.
Coq is definitely home grown as is Martinez.
Then add in all the youngsters who will be like Gnabry, Zelalem, Bielek etc. Wenger definitely has this part of the game well sorted.
No
Well the press seemed to think that Sterling was going to be a pain in the arse, but fortunately he’s a pain in citeh.
I don’t like the “one more season” quote allegedly from Özil. I hope that is a Sp*rs level poo-o-meter rating. One day I’d like to see an Özil testimonial.
The best deal Juventus should hope for is a signed Ozil Jersey for Vidal.
This means Wenger is looking for a central striker?
“the rumour reeks more than an Italian hack’s prosciutto-flavoured fart,”
THIS is why I read Arseblog – for the quality journalism. This is mid-season form, sir.
I’m disappointed now….I really thought from the headline that Wenger had referred to the Arseblog poo-o-meter.
That’s because media sites like ESPN sucker net amongst others have to be inventive to attract clicks. Frankly they never get it right. Nor do they even begin to make sense. Just read some rubbish spouted by ESPN about how ‘savy’ Chelsea are as oppose to us, conveniently of course ignoring the fact they spend tons more money where we have gotten in Ozil and Alexis in recent seasons. Their talking heads are equally vacuous. But there are plenty of fools who heed such reports as gospel. The agents link these suprious players to us (Mvilla, Melo, Carvalho take your… Read more »
Pretty spot on, honestly. As an American fan, while you guys have Robbie Savage, Jamie Carragher, and Michael Owen on the isle, we have ESPN pushing fucking Portsmouth’s curb kicked Shaka Hislop, Stevie Nicol, Alberto Moreno, who as I remember was pretty overrated in early stage MLS, and Craig “Foot in mouth” Burley. NBCSports at least has the fellas who do Men In Blazers, but Robbie Earle & Robbie Mustoe are equally, if not dumber, cunts plus add in Graeme Le Saux and Gary Lineker *blah*. I honestly think Robbie Earle madlib scripts a depressing report, throwing in random Ozil’s… Read more »
I believe you meant Alejandro Moreno, the prick. Him and Craig Burley are two of the worst when it comes to biased punditry and they make Savage’s words sound like gospel music. Robbie Mustoe ain’t too bad. He’s got sense in him, while Earle on the other hand is just clueless. I will pardon him though, considering he really doesn’t know what he’s doing on TV.