What does the stalled contract talks mean for Arsenal?

Arsenal are no longer in negotiation with Ozil and Alexis! by Ash

Rather big, but yet unsurprising news broke this afternoon, after it was reported that Arsenal have officially concluded talks with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, in regards to new contracts.

The duo both have less that 15 months remaining on their current deals and Arsenal are in danger of getting into a tricky situation come the summer, where sales may be forced if they cannot reach an agreement. Currently it remains largely up in the air as to whether you think Ozil and Alexis will stay or not. The majority seem to think that Alexis is very likely to leave, whilst I don’t think a outweighing point of view has been made on Ozil. In my opinion I think it could actually surprisingly be Alexis that may be the keener of the two to sit down and negotiate, especially with recent rumours suggesting that Ozil has had a little falling out with the boss. Alexis just wants to be a winner and whilst such ambition may not be shown on the pitch, I think with assurances of change in management and players, Sanchez may commit for at least another year.

As for Ozil, after four years with the Gunners, I think he may be wondering as to whether how much longer he wants to spend in London, before looking for a new challenge. He wasn’t necessarily out of the team in Madrid and was loved by the players there. At Madrid he was playing with some of the world’s best players and so Ozil does genuinely seek a desire to face a new challenge. It seemed that his future may be partially decided upon which direction Arsene Wenger decides to take with his own contractual situation, but this has since been denied by the player himself. Ozil has been out of form this season and over the four years he has been largely inconsistent; so much so that this year he has arguably been the scapegoat of the squad.

In a recent press conference, Arsene Wenger revealed why the Gunners had stopped negotiations. The sky sports report states: “We have decided to focus on the end of the season and talk about it in the summer, it is the same situation with Ozil because once you don’t find an agreement and it [the negotiation] lasts, it is not good so it is better you get it out and sit down in the summer.”

Contract negotiations probably are quite distracting from the main priorities of the game, especially when the talks are long and drawn out. We cannot forget that despite the calls for concern as to why Ozil and Alexis are entering their finals years, Arsenal have after all actually supposedly been trying to tie the duo down since last summer. Long negotiations in which neither the player nor manager can come to agreement on, is surely not good for moral and when the team is in the rut like it currently is, the last thing the squad needs is two stars sulking over disagreements in the boardroom.

I honestly have no clue as to what outcome we will see from these contract situations, if they are ever concluded for good that is. My gut tells me that one will sign and one will leave, but it’s going to be very long end to the season and an even longer summer, full of rumours, speculations and probably sales, but of course it could also mean that both players have already decided that they are not going to extend but can’t confirm it until the season is over.

What do you think?

By AH