Breaking: Arsenal Finally Open Talks To Tie Down Duo Amid Exit Rumours
Dec 9, 2016 at 11:20 AM
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed that the club has started negotiations to hand new deals to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santi Cazorla. There are as many as 10 players whose current contract at the Emirates expires in 18 months but the contract saga of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez has taken the spotlight off the other players.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s contract ends after the end of next season while Santi Cazorla will run out of contract after the end of this season.
The French tactician said that the club has started the talk with both the players and are also planning to tie down Olivier Giroud soon. The France international’s contract ends in 2018 and he has been linked with a move away from the club after losing his place in the starting eleven.
Speaking at the pre-match conference on Thursday, Wenger said:“We have a lot of work to do but you are only interested in two cases.”
“We have started talking to Ox. We’ve started with Santi as well and will certainly extend with him. We will work with Giroud as well and on many players.”
Wenger also indicated that the club is not going to bow down to the demands of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. The contracts of both the players’ ends in the summer of 2018 and with both the players still not signing an extension due to wage issues, speculations are rife that they might quit the Emirates after this season
“Arsenal is a big club,” said Wenger. “It is not one or two players who will make the difference to the club.
“The importance is that we are today in a financial position that is strong, that was not the case before. That means as well we are in a position where we can plan our future, and do what we want to do.And what is important is always to take care of the values of the club, and the identity of the club, and not to depend too much on one or two players. The history of Arsenal is bigger than that.
“In every single club, at some stage, they lost big players. Or they had big players without knowing. Or things like that happened everywhere. Every club is full of regrets and full of decisions. What matters is the globality of the decisions,” he added.