Breaking: Wenger gives less than positive update on Ozil’s contract talks
Oct 31, 2016 at 1:37 PM
Arsenal has yet to agree on a new contract with Mesut Ozil.
Throughout last summer, Arsenal fans lived in fear of losing Alexis Sanchez.
As implausible as it now seems given the Chilean’s form, for a period in the last transfer window, Juventus appeared to be chasing Sanchez with every penny Manchester United had just paid for Paul Pogba.
However, despite some alarmist reports, Sanchez remained at Arsenal and signaled that he would sign a new contract.
While this seemed to appease supporters, they continue to worry about the future of Mesut Ozil. Although there doesn’t appear to be the same amount of interest in the German international, he could yet leave the Emirates Stadium if a new contract is not agreed upon.
Indeed, with his deal, due to expire in the summer of 2018, Arsenal could be forced to sell their prize asset next summer or risk losing Ozil for nothing 12 months later.
For this reason, Gunners fans continue to monitor news of his ongoing contract negotiations with the hope of some positive developments.
Arsenal has of course been burnt in these type of situations in the past, leaving fans worried that their notoriously frugal club will be either unwilling or unable to stump up the cash to retain a player of Ozil’s caliber.
Therefore fans were understandably hesitant when Arsene Wenger remained coy after he was asked about Ozil’s ongoing contract negotiations, simply responding,
There is nothing really concrete enough to talk about, but it is moving along.
With the January transfer window fast approaching and Ozil playing some of the best football of his career, Arsenal fans would have been hoping for a more concrete response than that.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has hinted that he is looking at switching Arsenal’s formation to a 4-4-2 system in order to incorporate Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, and Olivier Giroud.
The Frenchman’s traditionally stuck to a 4-3-3 system with the Gunners and Sanchez has been used to great effect as a centre-forward this season.
Giroud, 30, has been the Gunners’ first choice striker for the last three years but Sanchez has been favored to the Frenchman so far this term.
However, Giroud scored twice against Sunderland as a substitute on Saturday and Wenger has hinted he’ll switch his system to play Giroud as a pairing with Sanchez.
“He [Sanchez] is doing extremely well and I believe that he enjoys it,” said Wenger.
“But we can as well play 4-4-2 with two through the middle as well because Mesut can play in behind or on the flank. I will see.
“Let’s not create problems that we don’t have at the moment. Sometimes I can play them together, sometimes separately, but we play so many games that everybody should get the number of games he wants.”