Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil will be staying beyond the summer.
The Gunners have had huge question marks over the futures of Wenger, Ozil, and Alexis this term, but with the former having agreed to extend his stay until 2019, the latter now look set to stay put also.
The two superstars are into the last 12 months of their deal, and have been strongly linked with moves to a number of big European sides, but the Frenchman now insists that neither will be quitting the club.
‘This summer, first of all, they will stay at the club and hopefully we can extend their contract,’ the 67-year-old said.
‘You know, you cannot weaken the club and weaken the team. We want to strengthen the team…unless you find a player of the same calibre and they absolutely want to leave. I believe that at the moment we are not on that front. We are just focused on keeping the team together and see how to strengthen the team.
‘When you sign a contract somewhere you commit to give your best until the last day of the contract. I would say why should they not give their best. The interest of any footballer is to play football and well. Even more so when you’re at the end of your contract, your interest is always to give your best and if you’re a winner, to win the game.’
As much as our manager is ruling out the exits of the duo, when he says ‘I believe’, it tells me that the players are yet to agree to stay with the club…
Will Alexis return from the summer with the intent to leave the club? Could a big-name signing convince him to stay put?
Pat J
They will both stay and according to the rumours, they just wanna see the players we bring in before they commit…
That will be our most important business this summer I just hope Wenger use that as an excuse not to sign players….*smiles*…
He could just say,,”Look, we have been busy all summer just to make sure Sanchez and Ozil commits to the club and it is more important than any new signings, because getting them to sign lifts the team spirit and gives us stability and cohesion going into next season..”..
* I hope Wenger does not**
If Sanchez wants to go, sell him. I don’t understand keeping a player that is unhappy and could cause disruption within the squad. He is by far Arsenals best player and it would be sad to see him go but he has given us his all and the club should respect his decision.
As for Ozil, I think everyone on here knows how I feel about him so it’s not worth talking about anymore.
Given his all??, the guy had one good season and is part of the team that finished 5th, fans should this player worshiping trend, lets see if he does move, if he will sign a contract to earn less than he is earning at the moment just to win trophies
Sanchez is Arsenals best player, has given his all and if he wants to move on, so be it.
If you are talking about Ozil then I actually don’t think he is good enough for Arsenal and should be sold.
This sounds bad I must admit, he’s after giving away a bit of what’s going on, or what’s not going on more like it, as in Alexis is not signing. A managers last throw of the dice is saying to the player, well we are keeping you here. And then hope that the player would rather a nice fat pay rise ahead of getting a free transfer next season. The problem is, even though they are not supposed to be doing it, other clubs will speak to Alexis, and tell him we’ll cover your losses for the season with a huge signing on fee and we’ll offer you 350 a week on top. Arsenal need to think of Alexis like he is not our player at the moment. We need to say right, he’s a bargain at 25m, offer him 25m signing fee, then offer him to become our most expensive earner, put in with some reachable add-ons and title winning bonuses and what not. (Arsenal FC, you know we can’t afford to Not keep Alexis, it is not the other way round.
“it is not the other way round”????, the club has and will always be bigger than any player …..plastic fan….
Rubbish, Arsenal are fifth richest club on planet. A plastic fan cannot be someone coming through generations of Arsenal supporters, inside the ground supporting the team before knowing how to use the potty. You haven’t a clue about me or any Arsenal fans you throw that accusation at, this is a mentality thing, it tells me you will never stand up to authority even if they are wrong.
Arsenal cannot assume he’s not our player because he’s worth roughly 60 million plus the 25 million you want to pay him for sign on fee, that’s about 85 million plus astronomical wages.
If it were me personally I would simply do this –
Not let Sanchez or Ozil leave even if they don’t sign. The reappointment of Wenger has made the club too sensitive to criticism and it is probably easier to take the loss of both on a free than the backlash if they leave and the season begins badly.
Then I would stop messing around with the whole striker issue. Just buy Mahrez and push Sanchez forward and put Mahrez where Sanchez was.
Mahrez has EPL experience and does not need time to adjust. He can hit the ground running. Then buy either a wing back so that Ox can push into central midfield or buy a central midfielder.
Then trim off any extra players in the squad, e.g. Theo probably needs to go, maybe one of Giroud and Welbeck, goalkeeper, Jenkinson, Debuchy.
Work with these players and try and mount a challenge. One window isn’t going to turn things around from where we have fallen to but hopefully a clean up starts to freshen things up
dude its not FIFA 17
It’s very simple – it involves buying two players – one of which is already for sale and after posting I read Wenger has just said he is interested in and has also now said Sanchez and Ozil won’t be leaving.
My post above is common sense. Not sure which world you’re living in
I agree with you and especially this part……”One window isn’t going to turn things around from where we have fallen to but hopefully a clean up starts to freshen things up”
There was a great American coach (American football) who said that in order to get to the top of your league , as a coach you need to be able to do two basic things:
1. Figure out why you lost the games you lost
2. Implement a plan to address the reasons you identified
Arsenal scored 8 goals less than Chelsea, and gave up 11 goals more than them (18 more than Tott). I don’t believe that the reasons for these differences can be realistically corrected in one season, and I believe part of the solution might be addition by subtraction, removing some players who are not part of the solution. It may take two seasons to make the positive changes that are needed but bringing in a few outstanding players this transfer season could be a good start.
Really hoping they both stay even if they dont sign an extension yet. They came here to win & the deal should be win the Premier League this season, use both sign on & we will add 3 big top quality players this summer to go for it by spending serious money. They should have both their contracts ready to show them the massive upgrades they will be getting on their deals to prove we are not messing around. Thats if we really want to keep them at the club.
At 350k a week and hes not signing
Let put a final 500k a week …take it or leave
let them see out their contracts, and get two other players in. win the league and they can go for free.
I love them both, but superstars need to be more influential when the going get tough. we have lost games that they haven’t put up their hands.
You seriously think Arsenal are going to wave goodbye to £70-100 million by letting them go on a free next year! It’s not going to happen, and neither should it.
People keep calling out Wenger and the board for failing, and in part they are to blame, but let’s not forget the dire performance of the players on several occasions including Sanchez and Ozil. That awful period at the beginning of the year is a big part of why our season turned into the worst for 20 years (excluding the FA Cup), and I’m pretty sure it was a training ground/dressing room bust up that revolved around Sanchez.
What Sanchez wants to think about is, in any other club he will not be the kingpin, he’ll just be another member of the squad who won’t get picked every game, and will be substituted a lot more than he is at Arsenal, so if he’s happy with that, and wants to leave, let him go, I’m sick of players holding clubs to ransom. Ideally of course I’d like him to stay, but if he goes, Arsenal will still be here.
In reality it is the player, who decides if he should go or stay even if he has one year left on his contract. If he really doesn’t want to play for the club anymore, it doesn’t help forcing him to stay the one more year he has in his contract. He will not be as good a player for the team in that situation, and it is actually better to cash in.