Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are no doubt Arsenal’s two biggest stars. They are the fans favourites at the club and Arsenal are extremely lucky to have such players in their side, when quite frankly we haven’t been all so ambitious in the market since their arrivals.
Arsenal showed great ambition to the players in order for them to sign with the Gunners, as I’m sure Alexis and Ozil haven’t exactly joined for the money, when there is plenty more elsewhere. They joined to win things with Arsenal, but the ambition we showed to them clearly hasn’t become a reality. There comes a time however where they will begin to consider if they will be able to achieve more with Arsenal. Both have plenty more years left in them on the world’s most competitive stage, however footballer’s careers don’t last forever and so both will be wondering how much more time they can dedicate at Arsenal, before feeling the urge to move on.
This will be Ozil’s fourth year at Arsenal and Alexis’ third. During that time they have won 4 and 3 trophies respectively (that’s if you’re counting the Community Shields). It’s not a bad achievement, especially the FA Cup(s), however they are both winners having played for Barcelona and Real Madrid and so both will be wanting to go all out in the domestic league and the champions league.
Their lack of agreement to new contracts has led to rumours that both are considering potential exits from the club come the end of the season. Both players are entering the final two years of their contracts, meaning next June they will have a single year left. With one year remaining, the ball is very much in their court for the club to either sell up or risk losing them for free if we haven’t already secured them on new terms by then. The rumours suggest that both will wait and see how Arsenal finish this transfer window and what ambition the club shows during the course of the season, despite not bringing in a new striker. However if they aren’t impressed, I wouldn’t be surprised to see if they make it known that they are on the lookout for a transfer away from the Emirates.
By AH