Mesut Ozil’s agent insists the midfielder will not be leaving Arsenal this summer, despite suggestions that the club could be open to letting the German go if the right offer were forthcoming.
After an underwhelming campaign that began with a huge furore over his international retirement and has included regular spells on the bench, it’s fair to say his stock at the Emirates has shrunk.
For £350,000 a week we’ve had three goals and six assists this campaign, which, when you consider we’re suckling from UEFA’s less buxom bosom, is hardly value for money.
Speaking to Turkish-Football.com, representative Dr. Erkut Sogut made clear that Ozil will reject any approaches to move on because he remains loyal to the Gunners cause.
“Rumours will always persist, there is no doubt about that,” Sokut said. “But one thing I can guarantee is Mesut’s loyalty.
“His mind is focused on Arsenal, and Arsenal only. Mesut bleeds Arsenal red, and respecting his contract is a certainty.
“He’ll be staying at Arsenal until at least 2021, and the fans need not to worry about the gossip that may come this summer. He has found a place he feels welcome and believes he has a lot more to give.”
If we fail to beat Chelsea in the Europa League final and thus miss out on the Champions League for a second successive season, you since Vinai and Raul may well test this theory.
That said, finding someone willing to pay Ozil’s huge wages is going to be very hard. If we were determined to offload him, you sense it would have to be on loan and with us picking up some of the tab.
Earlier this week, it was again reported that Ozil turned down a loan move to PSG in January.
Think next season we will see and much better Ozil. A point to prove and a more settled atmosphere will do him some good.
Not to mention a competent midfield that doesn’t rely fall apart when Ramsey is injured
Djgooner – please tell me that’s sarcasm.
Next season will be his. Hear that for 6 years now. Maybe we should consider the possibility that we’ve already seen the best of him?
I think the leicester season was his best one. Nearly broke Henry’s assist record. Don’t think he’ll reach those heights but he’s certainly so much better than he’s shown this year
he’s a whiny flake, we won’t with him. If he was your girlfriend, you’d call him high-maintenance.
We’ll have to support him though, no one’s touching that salary.
Maybe he is better than what he’s shown, but we may also have to decline that both what his shown only seems to be limited to home games, and against the lesser oppositions, but also accept that he may just be declining, which happens to every player.
This overly-optimistic ideals many fans have towards their favourite players is pretty much why we’ve held on to too many past-it player for the last few years.
so fans are why we held on to so many past-it players? Wish we had such power Faisal.
Wenger was loyal to a fault, fans didn’t have shit to do with players being kept or sold.
Ozil’s best form coincided with Cazorla at the base of our midfield, Cazorla was a magician who could beat the press and get the ball into Ozil early. The season he almost broke the assist record, he bagged only 1 assist into the new year and only 2 after Santi got injured, same again the following season, he started well but Cazorla again got injured and Ozil’s form was again in the toilet. And Ozil really hasn’t looked interested since the ink dried on his new deal, he looks like he’s just going through the motions, and counting down the… Read more »
That season our forwards also contrived to miss a dozen absolute sitters created by Ozil that would surely have given him the record. He’s not putting up the assists, but I still think he’s putting in good performances in a team that desperately needs someone to hold the ball and make the link to attack when we aren’t simply lumping it forward to chase.
The money we’re paying him only makes sense if he was performing like that season after season, in truth he actually got most of his assists in the first half of that season. And that was 3-4 years ago! I don’t even think he’s playing particular badly at the moment but he’s come nowhere near justifying those ridiculous wages.
I will lay odds that his agent has been checking around and realised he can’t get a better deal for him.
Just hope he plays more to his true potential if Emery will trust him.
Given that he’s contributed 2 assists and 5 goals in the league this year, I doubt we can see much worse.
That’s not worth £350K/week.
15% of 350,000 a week over 2 years = £5,460,000 sweeeeeeet.
I may be wrong but I don’t think the agent gets 15% of the entire contract- just a hefty fee at signing. Would like to know for sure if anyone knows better?
He’s had a point to prove in every single one of the years after he joined.
Point to prove to whom.
The guy is so flimsy, he could be blown over by a table fan.
Get rid!
I admire Ozil’s abilities when he shows them off on a good day, but it just doesn’t happen anywhere near enough. Ozil and Arsenal simply aren’t the perfect match, at all, no matter the ridiculous spin his agent puts on everything. Next season, if he’s still here, I’m genuinely thinking of bringing a poster to games that simply states “Ozil, your wages are damaging our ambitions. Prove us wrong or take a 50% pay cut, please!” See how much he loves the club then! …after reading an overly wordy sign held by one man he probably won’t even see, that’ll… Read more »
there was one season, coming back from injury, he had beefed up a little bit. but he’s just not into the physicality of the prem. and the lightweight shows, getting shoved off the ball and bitching. Man, Ozil causes such ambivalence. One minute you love his game, next minute he annoys.
Off course he will stay, it’s comfortable here at the emirates, no need to play regularly, no need to worry about away performance, no need to do defensive hard work, no need to assist, no need to score goals, etc. Yet, he can buy a brand new Ferrari once a week if he wants to. Why would he leave and work hard elsewhere?
All his doing is buying time. His greedy 4 money. Look how wolves has been transformed. How unai suppose to sort us out when his sitting with an overpaid expired player.
Hard to decide what was worse. Not selling Alexis to City for 60M, not selling Ramsey last summer, or renewing Ozil contract for 350k for week. However, what we got was all 3, which leaves us financially crippled and carrying 2 over-paid, under-performing players in Ozil and Mkhitarian
Thats why we all love Gazidis. Rumors of him high jacking Mustafi to Milan does sound appealing though… Him clusterfucking another club while helping us rebuild. It’s the least he can do…
Are we just gonna overlook the fact Wenger had no part in any of that? Particularly the Sanchez to City deal? As it was made known by even Wenger himself the board were happy to sell him for £60M but he was the one that rejected it (as he has final say on all football matters).
Or you know, let’s just absolve Wenger of all guilt and put it all on Gazidis (whilst never acknowledging many of the good thinks Gazidis did).
And I’m not even a fan of the fella.
It’s incredible isn’t it? Wenger said repeatedly ‘No decision is made without my approval’ and fans will still single out Gazidis.
And the same fans who were ready to sack Emery for sidelining Ozil now demand Ozil leave this summer.
Mad mad club
Not to mention, fans now crying that Arsenal should follow Klopp’s model were no doubt the same ones who refused to accept the idea of Wenger stepping down in 2014 so we could hire a modern coach like Klopp.
Kaius- would vote this up a million times if I could. ‘Klopp is so one dimensional, will never be a success in England, would be madness to get him in & get rid of Arsene’ …even for the first 1/2 years of him at Liverpool…’he’s done nothing…..information look at Stat A & Stat B, Liverpool haven’t improved at all’…..
I always hated that argument
“But what has Klopp won at Liverpool? Clearly not better than what we have”
/rolleyes.
I swear arsenal fans are the worst at times.
What was it they said?
“Be careful what you wish for”
I HATED that one.
Come on Crazy Ivan. Xhaka, Mkhitaryan and Aly Dia need a club. X
perhaps he is feeling guilty
Seriously? Alexis was out the fucking door. We renewed ozil straight after which gave the club a lift and made a statement to say yes, we are renewing our best players. Imagine If we lost Sanchez and Ozil at the same time. Yes we have two brilliant strikers up front but having mesut behind gives us another scare factor. You would be exactly the type of person that would complain after we lost them both and would be saying arsenal cant keep hold of our best players?. We kept ozil? So sit back and enjoy it while hes at the… Read more »
It looks a poor deal now…and did back then too. Total, utter financial mismanagement. Wenger shud have been sacked for vetoeing the Sanchez deal
Crazy but at the time I thought it was great, I thought we’d get the Dortmund Miki, and I thought wow we have Auba, Laca, mesut, Miki and ramsey. Looking back at it, we signed Ozil to avoid fans turning on club for Sanchez, we basically rejected 60M for mkhitaryan, and we bought another striker who’s 28yo when we had bigger concerns elsewhere in defence.
Shambolic decision-making.
Nope. I said I was all for it back then too. I’ve nailed my self to the plan of a new project youth 2.0, as I repeat in here plenty of times, and was willing to lose our alleged marquee players then for some time away to develop a new youth.
As for scare factor? HA. Which of the top 6, particularly away from home, have been scared of him?
Agent Alexis you mean…
why, just why. leave already.
Ozil is an amazing player, but our side isn’t good enough to give him the platform his talent needs and tactically, he will never thrive under our current setup. If his agent truly believes that his best move is to stay at Arsenal, then he needs a better agent. But I am sure they are either looking for a better club for him to play for, they have been promised some spending or that Unai is going to leave.
Knowing how good his representatives are, they know why they released this statement.
Yes I’m sure it’s the team’s fault he hasn’t been able to produce more than 6 assists the whole season, right?
If only we had 2 decent strikers for him to play behind to allow him to be the best that he is.
Dude he is right….arsenal don’t have wingers and or attacking creativity bro. lacazette and iwobi are the only players in our squad that look to attack players and create chances for the team. We have absolutely no wing play or pace going forward from our mid or “wing” players. Ozil thrives on teams that transit from defense to attack rapidly and look to break forward all the time. i guarantee you that if ozil was in any other top 6 team, he will be appreciated more. Its a god damn shame we the only team in the bpl without actual… Read more »
To be fair maybe it’s what’s behind him more than what’s ahead of him that’s the problem
So we’ve established with Ozil that…
1. The issue before was what was ahead of him (Giroud)
2. The issue now is what is next to him (wingers)
3. The issue may in fact have been what was behind him all along (CMs, DMs, CBs).
So everything all around him, regardless what the change that has occurred over the years, are the problem. And the common denominating factor in it all, Ozil himself, is just the poorly misunderstood soul?
I’m guessing they’re the reasons why he never shows up away from him either, or against the top 6?
Such a good player that no clubs outside of Turkey want him.
Are you his agent to know what offers he can get? or Arsenal fan TV?
Mhm I actually am Arsenal fan TV. Busted.
I think there’s some truth to that.
We consistently have one or two top players in the club and just never buy the talent to support them. We did it with RVP, Sanchez, Ozil. We just expect them to win it all for us. We’ll do it with Auba and Lacazette too,
We run these players ragged without thanks or support then blame them when they leave.
To reverse this logic, we used to stay this about Ozil as well –only if we had a different type of striker than Giroud who would make constant runs for Ozil to target.
Now we’ve got 2 top class strikers who can run behind defences and yet we see no passes like that.
Difference with Van P and Sanchez is they all showed up away from home and against the top 6, something Ozil has never done in 6 years.
Ah there you are Devlin. You disappeared (yet again!!) after another big performance & result under emery – what a surprise! Your true colours are clear.
Nobody escapes Big Brother Kwame lol
So the basic argument is it’s all Emery’s fault cos under Arsene here was no stopping Ozil, he king of the assists, right ?
Only once in those 5 seasons did Ozil top the PL assists table. Even more amazing, only twice in those 5 seasons did Ozil top the PL assists table within his own club !!
emery was only interested in grooming ganduzi…and that screwed up the midfield…now we only win, if our strikers somehow manage to do it all themselves. When emery realised he was about to be sacked, he ate crow in front of ramsey, ozil and xhaka …and played sensible teams – xhaka-torreira, ozil, auba, laca.
We should let him go even if it’s for 1m, sick of him And Mkhitaryan living of a handsome wage and doing absolutely nothing. He’s everything that is wrong about this club right now.
I mean let’s give him a go in a setup with actual football players a.k.a “proper” wingers and I think we can see something from him.
Ah gone from “He can’t do anything when he has Giroud to set up” to now blaming our lack of wingers now. Ofcourse.
We just need 10 world class players around him so that he can pick a choose his moments.
Can you imagine him on City, with that lot buzzing around him, and everyone passing the ball with 90% accuracy? It would be obscene.
If he was at Man City he would rarely get in the match day 18 man squad, never mind the first 11.
Really? I guess I just don’t know football at all!
I’ll tell you who does; Pep.
And he uses KDB and B. Silva (or other Silva). All of whom work hard without the ball, work to instructions and don’t go hiding during big games or away from home.
Ozil would NEVER get into the City team over any of those place whilst Pep is still there.
And he knows a thing or two about building league winning teams.
Pep would love Ozil — another expensive Ferrari of a player for his growing collection. Don’t be absurd!
Aside from Bernardo Silva, who seems to run endlessly all over the pitch, City’s attacking players press with intense sprints and bursts of speed, something Ozil would be more than capable of — Pep organizes his press in tight units to overload and turn the ball over immediately, something neither AW did nor Emery does. City usually have 10 players in the opposing team’s half, and their gameplan is to score as many goals as possible while keeping the ball for 80% of the match, everyone passing at 90% accuracy. Ozil would thrive in that setup. And yes, City’s players,… Read more »
I literally couldn’t imagine him at City, Pep wouldn’t touch him considering the players he already has.
So he should? We love mesut!
Of course he’s staying. No one else is mad enough to pay him 350k per week
Happy 50th Birthday to Dennis Bergkamp. an Arsenal legend who will be in my heart always and forever. Thank you for the memories. What I would do to turn back the clock to see you grace Highbury. Hope to see you back at the club in the near future in any capacity.
Of course he’ll respect a £350k contract. Who wouldn’t. I just wish he’d really impose himself more. Super talented, almost Bergkamp level but ‘God’ used to win games almost on his own . Can you ever say that about Ozil.
occasionally but not much
we need to decide, do we want players to respect the contract or not.
Real Madrid should buy him back. I really think that a club like real or bayern can use him properly in not such a physical league like PL. It really amazes me when I see ozil’s skill videos of his time at real and compare it with that at arsenal.
Again if Arsenal really dont bother about replacing him with someone of his caliber than let him stay. I dont want to lose ozil like we loosed fabregas, van persie or sanchez whom we never really replaced at that exact positions..
We’re going to be stuck with this utter waste of money for another 2 years….. Ozil seems a popular figure in the dressing-room, this could prove dangerous for Emery with the arithmetic of the dressing room, these are largely the same players that gave up under Wenger just last season, there’s nothing to suggest they won’t down tools and start slinging mud all over again. Ozil’s tweet after our defeat in Rennes, proves that he’s willing to throw the manager under the bus if his position becomes threatened, Emery needs to see that Ozil is forced out ASAP. I’ve said… Read more »
Ozil does not want to leave. Any idea of forcing him out, which Emery already tried this year, is a waste of time and money. Players and their agents run the show now. Might as well work him, and use the talent he does have and the joy he does bring to our football.
I like Mesut, and he’s a spectacular player on his day, but that day doesn’t come around anywhere near frequently enough to warrant £350k a week. You could also question whether he fits Emery’s style (whatever the fuck that is), so I hope we can move him on this summer… After he gracefully assists our battering of the chavs in Baku.
did i miss the part where he helped win 3 FA cups, and then held a gun to the clubs head? His contract was over. You could have let him walk.
We aren’t likely to be find a willing buyer and if we’re paying his wages for a loan move we may as well keep him
If freeing up his (and Mhki’s) wages from the bill allowed us to better reinvest in the squad I’d be all for it. It’s long past time for us to move on.
Thought Ozil did ok on Thursday. His ability to take and move a ball under pressure is still a joy to watch. Twice as good as Iwobi. 5x better than Mkhitaryan, who defends as badly but loses the ball most times he receives it. We can’t get rid of our average players. Taking into account who’s leaving anyway, I’d be happy if we just offloaded Mkhitaryan and Mustafi and got decent replacements for them. Wanting anything more isn’t realistic, given the budget Kroenke will sanction this summer.
Kick him out, you spare let’s say 60M (wages + transfer). Not enough to find a replacement. But well, it’s always good to have an Özil to spit on when things go wrong. Especially if Mustafi leaves.
If we kick him out we still have to pay his wages. If it were that simple we would have kicked him out long ago!!!
Successful teams in England don’t like having an Ozil in there…….A player whose beauty only blossoms in a Goldilocks match.
Really liked lacca and auba playing wide last night alot with ozil playing behind them.
But imagine if we had 3 wishes for the final against Chelsea.
1…..swap ozil with a young denis berkamp
2…..swap xakai with young viera
3….”swap mustafi with young tony adams…
I’d swap those guys for “old” versions of those legends even.
Prove them wrong Magic Mesut. And don’t dip into their lockers. It’s been done
It’s just the agent positioning so that if Ozil does leave it can be portrayed as him being forced out of the club by the management.
Man if only we could move him on…that’s 3 players on 100k/week we could sign.
#$%^
like Suarez, Ganduzi, Lichsteiner you mean?
Very glad he’s staying and hopefully Emery can develop a system to get the best out of him. Though he hasn’t put up the assists recently, he’s still been very good since Emery brought him back into the fold. People can hate on him and envy his salary, as Arsenal fans are wont to do, but I’m very appreciative of the goals he scores and the assists he creates and the moments of magic he brings to football. Senior players like him will be important to have around for the younger players sure to step up next season in the… Read more »
Saying a player is not good enough to justify his exorbitant salary is not ‘hate’. So tired of hearing people use he word completely out of context.
I know it’s a modern use of the word but it trivialises the real thing. e.g the reasons there are concerns for Mkhi’s safety for the final.
Of course, I mean it in the sporting context/social media usage (i.e., “hate on him” rather than “hate him”) — which last I checked is precisely the context of this website/blog — and don’t think that trivialises the reality of it in the real world. I would hope none of our fans actual wish any ill upon one of our players, or our former manager, and trust that no one does when they comment on here with otherwise assertive language and opinions.
“And the assists he makes”
2. All season.
Just thought I’d remind you.
Sure, he’s not thriving on the assist chart, but I imagine if we reviewed a lot of our goals this season, especially recently, we’d find Ozil playing a key role in the buildup. It’s not always about the final two balls (aghem!), though he’s scored a few interesting goals this season (that downward shot is something). Clearly you don’t like/rate/enjoy Ozil, and that’s fair enough; and you are clearly not alone. I’m disappointed so many fans tend to cast so much negative feeling on our players, but I guess if one has it it has to go somewhere. I think… Read more »
I like Ozil, I do. He’s a lovely footballer & seems like a good guy….and I get his contract isn’t his fault, it’s totally on Arsene & the board….but we can’t simply ignore it. It is a huge issue for the club. 350k a week for an attacking player who cannot beat a defender 1-on-1 or score from outside the box is an astonishing waste of money. All the talk about his work rate being the problem is a red herring : it’s the lack of variety in his qualities that means he isn’t worth the money. For that money,… Read more »
Explaaain
Why would he leave when Arsenal pay him a mere £18,200,000 a year for 3 goals and six assists …
Noticed Ozil’s game seems to be changing to what Emery wants – fewer risks, more defensive work, pressing and running off the ball, and dropping deep controlling possession. The through balls have disappeared. It’s all crosses and cutbacks now.
I wonder what Emery’s fabled dossier said about Ozil. From what I’ve seen this season, Ozil doesn’t seem to be he manager’s kind of player.
A more possession focussed manager may have made sense, given that we had just sunk £350k/week into Ozil and there was little chance of moving him on.
‘Emery’s fabled dossier ‘ was just to bullshit idiots like Gazidis into giving him a job, it seemed days after PSG sacked him, he rocked up here.
this has turned into such bullshit, no?! An excellent creative player, unsettled, out of place in the team, with an agent constantly spouting the same story about him honoring his contract.
what might have been.
For 350k/week and plays some while( more on fever and etc), everybody will be loyal..not till 2021,for 2031 also can!!
“the fans need not worry abou the gossip…” HAHAHA! Actually we do want him out in the summer. The stats that were used to defend him for so long are now shoing that he has been terrible for us this season. Sorry, it’s time to go.
But we want him to move … We worry he’ll stay!
At least a doctor says his blood is the right colour, having a mollusk on the books would be kroenke out for me
I wish to see a world class player like mesut ozil go somewhere else than remain at arsenal. Here’s why, Ozil can offer more and be appreciated more if he gets to play regularly because he is that good. At arsenal he is getting detained on the bench for a stupid reason like “not defending well”. #Fact_ he’s not a defender.
.lichsteiner…jenkinson….mustafi…chambers….nacho….elneny….ozil….mikhi…all need to be sold
Sure, Ozil has a marketing value that will replace his wage a bit, so to Arsenal, his wage actually is not that big. BUT the downside is every high performer and star will want that kind of wage now, at least near it. I think that’s why Arsenal want to offload him.
Although he has not played that well this season….I think the number of appearances, the system and way that we play in and the players around him in the midfield are also factors to consider. We could certainly do worse than Mesut. If someone comes to buy him and deals agreed then fine…but if not then I think it’s much more important to replace the Xhakas and Elnenys of the team. They don’t add much in terms of quality.
I dnt know why he just doesn’t leave. His rich and won everything. He plays half heartedly his not part of the coaches plans and u can see he doesn’t want to be there. Help this club by doing billions of people a favour and leave. U cost 350k a week. All i see is greed in his goldfish eyes.
On the news of agents, anyone seen the news on Mino Raiola’s three month worldwide ban?
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Probably the most cut throat football agent in the world who screwed us so many times on various transfers. Nice to have a summer free of him (although I’m still not confident of us doing much business).
Still has it in the locker. He needs others around him. Real goalscoring wingers to make good runs. The hierarchy should show ambition and spend this summer.
Some genuine wide-men would be welcome. It’s something we’ve lacked for a long time.
Funnily enough, though, we’ve almost stopped going through the middle this season unless it was Ramsey.
I’m glad he’s staying anyway.
Özil is not only a greedy lazy guy on the pitch but a very despisable man outside of the pitch! Check it out: https://turkish-football.com/the-secret-life-of-arsenal-star-mesut-ozil/
It’s a huge part of why we love him Alex, it’s rare to find someone with so much talent who is also such a good person. He makes a lot of people very happy with his football and so many other things.
Mesut will stay until the end of his contract, and I’m very pleased. There’s a lot more to his game than assists, you can see he’s playing a lot deeper and having to find the ball, because we basically have no functioning midfield. This has been a very difficult season for him, beginning with all the issues around the German team, followed by troubles at Arsenal, where I believe Emery could have done better, but thankfully all that looks to be over and now Mesut is starting to play well again. No player will be perfect every game, but if… Read more »
Rubbish.
The least a footballer can do on a pitch is pull in an effort and challenge for a 50/50 ball.
Ozil is bone ass lazy! I swear some of our glorious female players will win tackles the Germain sheiks from.
Look at City and Liverpool’s midfield. There no room to carry anybody. They all put in a shift.
No top team in world football will have Ozil. We are stuck with him for another two years when he can fuck off to the US to continue his retirement.
When he’s gone we will realise what a fucking diamond we had…people going on about his wages as if they were paying him from their own pocket…
I think its not completely ozil’s fault. The coach should build a system that brings out the best of the most creative player we’ve got!!!! Mesut has tried his best to run and “try” to tackle a lot more,even though its not his greatest strengths…the coach should do his part……
His agent says he has a lot more to give…,……..when is going to start because his done fuck all.
High pressing is the new meta of football. We see a lot from Jurgen Klopp, Pochettino. Even Pep Guardiola orders Aguero to press more.
As much as i used to like Ozil, he will probably needs to leave. His salary is ridiculous. I mean 350k per week? No. That’s Gazidis’s mess. Not ours.
Emery came in talking about a high press but we’ve seen little evidence of it