It’s funny how some Gooners’ moral compass changes when it suits them.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Yet that’s what some are asking Arsenal to do.
The club have had their fingers burnt in the past by paying over the odds for players to stay who have little resale value. It means if a talent’s attitude changes, form dips or a business decision is made to cut costs, you can be hamstrung by this expensive resource.
An interested buyer isn’t going to invest heavily in a transfer fee as well as wages for someone past the age of 30. That’s why you often see the Gunners over the years almost forget about any fee if it helps facilitate getting huge wages off the balance sheet. Unfortunately, clubs have been very aware of our willingness to loan out or even release a talent to save money.
So at 32, Zubimendi arriving and a poor fitness record, Arsenal don’t feel obliged to carry on paying Thomas Partey £200,000 a week, and certainly not any more than that. The decision has divided our fanbase, yet are some contradicting themselves?
Have We Forgotten What Happened With Ozil?
In January 2021, Mesut Ozil was made the highest-paid player in our history after increased pressure not to lose another star name, the same month Sanchez moved to Old Trafford in a swap deal.
Both players had been allowed to enter the final 6 months of their contracts, meaning their agents held most of the cards. With the benefit of hindsight, some fans criticised the policy of giving a pay rise to a 29-year-old who, because of his age, was never going to have any resale value.
Yet four years later, some supporters think the same should happen regarding Thomas Partey. He’s 32!
With Covid meaning football lost matchday revenue and owners unsure how long it would be until stadiums were full again, Arsenal had buyers’ remorse. While the likes of Mikel Arteta will never admit it, the priority was to slash the wage bill. Clearly under orders from the Kroenke family, a campaign was started to make the midfielder so unhappy in North London that he would feel forced to rip up his deal.
Our PR team set up a strategy to manipulate the fanbase, leaking out that the German was one of three players to refuse a 12.5% salary reduction. Conveniently, the other two names were never leaked. At a time where most of the world couldn’t work, what better time to portray a footballer as greedy?
In reality, the World Cup winner just wanted clarification on what the Kroenkes planned to do to support the club during the pandemic. Was his money truly going to save staff jobs, as had been promised? Because if not, he’d rather donate that cash to charities who needed help more than the Gunners did.
His billionaire boss did indeed lie to the squad. Fifty-five staff were made redundant despite the promise that wouldn’t happen if they agreed to reduced wages. Ozil famously offered for Gunnersaurus’ wage to come out of his own pay when the dinosaur was sacked. This public act of defiance would cost him, he would never play for the Arsenal again.
We knew the decision wasn’t sport-related because in his final game for us before lockdown, he had assisted our winning goal. Now we were meant to believe the most creative talent we had couldn’t even make the bench while his peers were finishing 8th?
His employers had to legally show at all times that he was getting the same treatment as the rest of his co-workers, hence why our manager would always insist there were zero concerns in training and certainly no attitude problems.
In-depth analysis of Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal career after his retirement announcement.
Two Different Stories – So Why The Double Standard?
Essentially paid to sit at home, his representatives made it clear their client liked living in London and wasn’t going to be bullied into accepting a loan or transfer. Many think the definition of a fan is to defend the club even when they are in the wrong.
I know people who felt Ozil was showing pure greed for being content to collect his earnings even though he wasn’t registered to play. That’s the false narrative that was being spun.
In reality, this was simply a man honouring an agreement that all parties were happy to sign, for a figure no one was forced to agree to. It wasn’t his choice not to be playing, and he wasn’t going to be forced to leave the English capital just because someone a lot richer now wanted to save some pennies. The same boss who, at this point, was so poor he was planning to join the Super League!
Yet I know the same readers who felt that Ozil was disloyal for staying too long who now think Partey has been disrespected, because while those in power want him to remain at the Emirates, not for over £200,000 a week!
One man wanted to honour an agreement. The other only wants to carry on playing for us if we get involved in a bidding war for his services.
Which one sounds more loyal to you?
In terms of body of work, one contributed to ending a nine-year trophy drought, boasting four FA Cup medals. The other hasn’t won a major honour in England. It’s not his fault his last five years have been disrupted by injury, but having missed so much action, and knowing he’s no longer going to be starting every week, it’s cheeky of him to expect a pay rise.
There’s nothing wrong with being motivated by financial gain, but let’s have the same convictions.
Ozil wanted to stay on agreed terms. Arsenal didn’t.
Arsenal would like Partey to remain, but he wants to be paid a wage that does not reflect his status.
Ozil is wrong for refusing a pay cut, apparently. But Partey is right to only stay if he wants a pay increase?
Make it make sense.
Dan Smith
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I wanted Partey to stay so that Zubimendi could be eased into the squad while we would suffer no dropoff in quality given our immediate ambitions for next season. But like I’ve said before, I understand why the club had to let him go. It’s good there was no bad blood in any way.
My only grievance is/would be if we were to sign a 31 year old who frankly isn’t anywhere close to our standard just to plug holes because he’s cheap and would be content sitting on the bench until when needed. This is akin to Jorginho’s signing with the difference being that Jorginho was a panic buy while right now, we still have 2 months of the window.
Point is that the incoming DM should be someone who can be trusted to play without a significant dropoff. Our ambitions for next season should reflect that. That’s all we’re asking because next season is way too crucial
For the first time, I agree totally with your article….
I can’t really make it make sense Dan, because the scenario your painting doesn’t make sense.
I agree with everything you say regarding Ozil and I would add that he never dissed the club in any way whatsoever – just as Thomas Partey hasn’t…. but there the similarities end in my opinion.
Thomas has had an offer of a new contract (which of course we haven’t a clue as to what it says by the way) that he feels isn’t good enough.
It seems he he gave the club a copy of what he deemed to be a sensible counter offer and they declined to agree to that.
So both parties have decided, it seems, to part ways with mutual respect for each other – something that never was the case with Mesut Ozil.
The Thomas Partey incident cannot be traced back to Mr Kronkie, while I agree, the Mesut Ozil incident can I believe.
Good read nevertheless and I think you and I see eye to eye regarding Mesut Ozil and I wonder if the truth will ever come out?
Dont forget the fact that ozils situation at that time is political too after he critisized china for their treatment of uyghurs.
👍The truth may be buried in Beijing.
Mas and BB, it would seem that people have forgotten what happened after his political statement about China and the Uyghurs. When the PL restarted in March after COVID, the Chinese company that had the rights to show the PL games reneged on their payment, which was due in March. That cost every PL club millions of £s. Coincidence, I think not.
Both players are wrong. I’d love to see Partey stay but we can’t keep his salary the same given his age and injury history, and we sure as hell can’t increase his wage. So we’re forced to let him leave.
Ozil played the fanbase just as much as the club ‘played’ Ozil if not more. Whilst he had one the best passes the game will ever see, his good performances were neither regular or often, his overall game was very limited, he mostly hid from challenges and didn’t show fight, instead gesturing to officials every time the opposition easily bullied him off the ball and counter-attacked. There were occasional genius performances (the fabled ‘Leicester game’) but all in all Ozil was our highest earner on £250k a week, both him and Sanchez looked to leave. Alexis did, and knowing our position had become desperate because of that Ozil and his team managed to use this against us to gain a £350k contract (possibly biggest in UK at the time), after that his performances plummeted, he spent most of his time ‘injured’ playing eSports and trying to contradict the club on any stance it took (I’m not saying who was right of wrong on this), in an attempt to turn Gooners against the club, and for many it worked. He became toxic, that’s obvious to anyone who remembers that point in our history well.
Some of the claims in this article are stated as fact but are clearly opinion, and omit crucial details such as the effect on the club and fanbase, being greedy and opportunistic, and ultimately, not delivering on the extremely high wages they were being paid; Partey due to injuries, Ozil due to greed and poor form.
Both players put their greed above the clubs and fans needs, as such they were/are being rightly moved on.
Ian, all the club had to do, was not offer the contract that they did to Ozil, just as they have refused to accept the revised offer presented by Partey.
If Ozil was the kind of player you describe, why did Gazidis offer him such a ridiculous contract?
That’s my point mate
On one hand Arsenal are wrong for paying a 29 over the odds but then the same Gooners who say that want us to that for Partey
Dan, I think that 99.9% of the fanbase wouldn’t want the club to increase TP’s salary and quite rightly so in my opinion.
But that wasn’t the case with MO though, as Bertie pointed out below.
The fanbase was hyper that the club should do whatever it could to keep him at the club…. as was the case with Aubemeyang, but of course they went completely OTT with their offer for both and then did it again with Havertz!!!
They aren’t doing that with Thomas, so perhaps they’ve learnt a lesson, as I thought they had with Aaron Ramsey and his reported OTT offer, but then along came Havertz!!
If you remember at the time Ken, the fanbase was bubbling with discontent, and once Alexis left they were in a really difficult place having lost a main player to a major rival, Ozil used that to bag a big increase on wages. If we lost Ozil on top there would have been uproar. And lets be honest, Gazidis was rather weak at his role.
I’m not pro Partey over Ozil or vice-versa, I just don’t like it when players who haven’t completely justified their initial high wage then have the audacity to ask for an increase, especially when they’re trying to take advantage of the situation. Aubameyang did the same. If players truly love the club and fans, they’d not demand such insane weekly sums – that ultimately, we all pay for with increased tv deals and cost of tickets and merchandise rising.
“… the effect on the club and fanbase, being greedy and opportunistic, and ultimately, not delivering on the extremely high wages they were being paid…”
“…Both players put their greed above the clubs and fans needs…”
Are you really serious? So both Ozil and Partey were opportunistic and greedy?
Were you in the negotiating room to know what the club offered Partey? How did you know he was greedy? So whoever doesn’t accept a contract offer should be considered greedy and not considering the fans…according to you.
I’m absolutely serious, and its not “according to me”, the details came out via the ‘in-the-know’ types at the time (Watts, Ornstein et al), and the players nor their teams ever denied that. And given the reasons I stated, that is literally the definition of opportunistic.
Please don’t paraphrase me and take my words out of context, I never said all players, it’s circumstantial in this instance. To put it simply: players who perform, stay fit and raise the teams level get rewarded with higher wages, those who don’t, do not. It’s both standard logic and business logic. If Ozil had justified his £350k a week contract nobody would’ve said anything, but he didn’t, not one bit beyond that point.
I think Partey is brilliant and I wouldn’t want to see him leave, but his career with us has been ruined by injuries. He was great last season, but he’s already one of our highest earners, if he wants more then that’s pretty crazy when he knows he’ll be second fiddle to Zubimendi next season.
So take your condescending attitude elsewhere if you can’t get involved in an honest conversation between fans of the same club.
Good points.
Unfortunately, the footballing landscape has allowed footballers so much leverage that salaries at some clubs are astronomical and probably unsustainable. Footballers will claim to love the fans and kiss the badge but in the end financial considerations will override everything else.
I have replied to this but its still in moderation unfortunately, not sure why.
And it wasn’t Ozil’s greed, it was the clubs stupidity, just as it was with Aubameyang and Havertz.
Can’t it be both? Being on £250k a week then asking for £350k (making him possibly the best paid player in the league, despite not being the best player), if that isn’t greed I don’t know what is, if I remember rightly I think he even requested a signing fee and bonuses on top (though I’ll admit that may not be confirmed). And the club were embarrassingly desperate at the time under Gazidis. It kind of summed up how bad things were for fans back then.
But they could have said no and released what the situation was regarding the offer from the club and the players demands, but they didn’t.
All the actual facts we have regarding Ozil, is that he was on a ridiculous salary with add ons – he played in every one of MA’s 12 match unbeaten run – covid came along – he agreed to take a pay cut if he knew where the money was going – he got politically involved and never played a single game for the club again, despite training with the first team squad and declaring himself fit and ready to play.
Nothing like this is like the situation with Partey, so I don’t understand the comparisons.
My apologies Ken, I’m not trying to compare Partey and Ozil as such, there are too many additional details. I just think it was poor management by Arsenal/Gazidis to let their two best players enter the final year of their contracts (Alexis and Ozil), and then I thought it was disrespectful of Ozil to request a huge amount more to stay – knowing we had already lost fan faith in allowing Alexis to go.
What was/is happening in China with the Muslim population is utterly abhorrent, but the club is a business and had to take a diplomatic approach – I don’t agree with it, but it does make business sense.
Additionally, it was rather hypocritical of Ozil to draw attention to this (though not unwarranted), given his ties to Turkish PM Erdogen, who himself had done similar things to the Kurds.
And that whilst Partey is a different matter, he too undeservedly demanded unrealistic wages to stay. Not by such a large amount admittedly, and in his credit he has given his all whenever available. Just sadly we can’t guarantee his fitness, and though mostly brilliant last season, areas of warning are increasingly creeping in: being caught out, misplaced passes, not having the legs to track back as much, clumsy decisions.
It’s a tough decision but most likely the right one. Had he accepted a slight pay cut (he’d have no doubt been offered a signing on fee too) we wouldn’t even have him in the conversation. And his freed wages mean we have have more to offer a new forward.
No need to apologise Ian.
I’m going from the article that Dan wrote and HIS compare with the two players.
The only thing I would disagree with you on, is that you say Ozil was being disrespectful by asking for a salary increase.
How do we kbkw that?
Perhaps the club was so desperate to keep him,, they came up with this ludicrous and grotesque figure?
It’s not as if Ozil is the only one either, as Aubameyang, Ramsey and Havertz have all reportedly been offered / given the same ridiculous offer.
You’re absolutely right Ken, both Ramsey and Aubameyang did the same, and sadly for them it also damaged their careers and reputations. Essentially we all know a player’s worth in relative terms, so when players who struggle with injury, inconsistency or are getting old demand more, it will create some form of unpleasant scenario for those involved and the onlookers, as it can split opinion massively.
I remember at the time certain figures like Ornstein and Charles Watt (of Football.London at the time if I’m not mistaken) reporting Ozil’s salary demands, as the claim was that United would offer him £350k a week if he joined on a free, so he wanted it matching.
– Though let’s be totally honest, many players have agents that are more money hungry than the players, so it could’ve been more Ozil’s team rather than the player himself. In that regard I’ll admit I don’t know if it was Ozil himself or his team, though he didn’t seem to mind signing the contract.
But Ian, where is the real criticism of our club?
If the rumours that the club wanted to get Ozil of the books after such a ridiculous contract, why did they then repeat the exercise with Aubameyang, Ramsey and Havertz?
Would all these fans who criticise players for accepting such contracts, also turn down an offer from the firms they work for, if they thought they didn’t deserve it… I think not!!
People really shouldn’t really be pretending or trying gaslight everyone. These arguments about “his agents” or “we weren’t in the room” are simply disingenuous.
Ozil wanted more money and got it. So fair play to him and his agents. His demands were however opportunistic and disrespectful. Many fans thought it was necessary to give him what wanted to avoid further depletion of the squad and maintain competitiveness especially in the wake of losing Sanchez.
Would you say Artetas demands for his new contract (highest paid person at the club ) was opportunistic and disrespectful because of his lack of trophies ?
Good point DK.
You could blame every player for being an opportunist – take Saliba for instance, or even Skelly and Nwaneri, aren’t they only doing what it is claimed Ozil did?
With Ozil we should forget the background. As someone else has posted earlier, Arsenal had lost Sanchez (their top scorer) to Man Utd for a small fee and Mhkitaryan in part-exchange. The club was determined that they weren’t going to lose Ozil so made that huge (and infamous) pay offer. Clearly, he didn’t need his arm twisted to accept.
It was probably the biggest financial mistake the club made until our old pal, Pepe, hove into view. Arsenal ended up not only paying Ozil £350k a week, but still paid him 90% of that when he was on loan at Fenerbahçe. Incredible.
* shouldn’t forget (I wish we could).
In reality Arsenal are not wrong in letting Partey go but he at least fought for the team. Ozil on the other hand didn’t have the stomach for the fight, incredibly gifted and a shame because to me, he wasted his gift. I always thought he was a luxury player at RM in a team full of internationals. At Arsenal this obviously was not the case. I wish Partey well, he was a good Arsenal steward and I respect what he gave the club.
Do we have all the facts about trying to force him out? Generally speaking, a club will reward excellence and not try getting rid of one of its star players. My view is that the club has to stand by its deal, and the player has to continue to show excellence on the field.
Casemiro at Utd is not going anywhere. Getting on a bit and on a fab deal. Ozil was on the borderline age wise and was also on a fab deal. So good that both players moving on was at best unlikely. Both with nothing more to prove in terms or their earlier careers and seemingly happy to ride it out and enjoy their increased wealth. More fool Arsenal and more fool ManU
Mentioning Gunnersaurus was like red rag to a bull for me. How Ozil had the nerve to offer to pay him while still on the Arsenal books I cannot comprehend. It was not Ozil’s place to interfere in club matters regardless of what the club was saying about staffing issues.
The wage cut saga was unedifying all round, and it didn’t help that Ozil was named as one of 3 players who refused. Again, nobody owned up to being the whistle-blower, and the other 2 kept rather quiet in any case. Rather unsavoury for the remaining players to know that 3 in their ranks chose to go against the majority.
As for Partey, there is no guarantee that he will have a high level of performance moving forward and the salary demands from him showed he thought he could hold the club to ransom in order to keep him when the likelihood his return on the pitch would diminish
Excellent post Sue 👏🏻
Sorry SueP, but your use of the words “holding the club to ransom” is nonsense.
He was offered a new deal, which he didn’t think was good enough.
He then presented the club with what he thought was good enough and the club said thanks but no thanks (If we are to believe the media).
It’s called negotiating and, as neither party can agree, Thinas will ply his trade elsewhere.
One could say that the club held Partey to ransom, especially if the rumour that he was offered a pay cut is true.
Thomas will ply his trade elsewhere.
I’d say that’s fair enough. I couldn’t at the time think of the best way of putting it
Reading my post SueP, using the word “nonsense” is OTT.
Perhaps the word “misguided” is more appropriate 👍
A pay cut and a 1 year contract as speculated. It was never good to be accepted. I’m sure they knew that but still went ahead with it. Should have just let him leave.
@Ken
Had Partey had the same injury ladden season last season as he always did, would he have demand for increase in salary and would the even offer him one?
I’ve no idea Chronicle, but he didn’t have a injury ladden season and everyone saw what a great footballer he is.
I also don’t know if he “demanded” an increase in salary, or if he decided that the contract being offered was not what he expected and, for all we know, it might have been a decrease in his salary, or just a status quo offer…. but he wasn’t prepared to sign it and gave the club what he thought he was worth.
They thought that was excessive and declined, just as Thomas did.
So both parties shook hands, I guess and moved on.
What’s the problem here?
Fully agree with your article Dan. The sacking of 55 employees diminished the ‘classy’ tag our club has had in my view. For those who believe that Ozil was overrated here are some stats:
Lifetime stats as at December 2024:
Kevin deBruyne – 733 games, 181 goals, 305 assists.
Mesut Ozil – 737 games, 137 goals, 318 assists.
No doubt KdB will eventually eclipse Ozil’s assist tally because he is still playing.
Why do you make the club saints? I’ve noticed that over time.
Yes, I know Ozil should have kept some things private – like Gunnersaurus and his personality just meant this was all going to go south. I also faulted him for his conduct during the Emery days and wanted him out. Even when Arteta arrived, I wanted Ozil out for footballing reasons. But to make him the enemy and the club saints is an unbalanced assessment imo.
Wasn’t it widely reported that he was willing to take a much larger pay cut that the 12.5% as long as there were guaranteed to him and his teammates that jobs would be saved? I bet you that if Rashford or Rice had done that, they would have been invited to Buckingham the next day.
Wasn’t it widely reported that the team were furious with the board for sacking 55 staff after the pay cut?
People in football speak out on LGBT and are supported but when someone speaks out on religious issues, we say they should have considered the business first and not say anything. Maybe you’re not aware that religion and family ties are far stronger than any other.
My point is that Ozil is divisive and deserves some of the harsh treatment he has received from even some other clubs. But in the matter of Ozil vs Arsenal FC, Arsenal FC are right down the bottom of the dirt in my opinion.
Your last sentence sums it up perfectly for me dgr8xt.
As for the player himself, there should be two separate articles on him.
1. His playing ability and what he brought to the club.
2, His attitude, religious beliefs and charity work.
Going back to the article, Partey has no problem with either 1 or 2 and that’s my initial point to Dan.
If religion mattered so much to Ozil then he wouldn’t have got a tattoo, as being a Muslim, it’s regarded as Haram.
Not if your a progressive Muslim it isn’t HD, as they argue that getting your haircut, for example is also changing your body.
I don’t know if Mesut is a progressive or not, but that might explain it.
Of course, I’m not an expert on the Muslim religion.
Ken, if getting a haircut was Haram, then all the non progressive Muslims would have hair touching the floor.
From what I understand, it’s ok for male Muslims to have haircuts, as long as the sides are cut the same length.
I’m no expert either Ken, but I have a great mate who is like a brother to me, who is a Muslim.
Perhaps he could answer this “progressive” suggestion then HD?
I’ll ask him about that Ken.
Did you see my post to you the other day about Kenny Rolfe ?
No HD – are you in touch with him?
He is also a memory man when it comes to our club.
What’s he up to these days – I so enjoyed his brilliant descriptions of games he attended.
Ken, without going into detail, he’s been quite ill. I keep in touch with on Social media.
So sorry to hear this HD – could you send him my regards and tell him he’s missed here on JustArsenal please?
Will do Ken.
I’m not sure who this article is aimed at – when ozil got that contract, I remember thinking it was too much for someone who often disappeared in big games (and plenty of smaller ones), and didn’t seem like a real leader in the team – and I thought we’d backed the wrong horse by prioritising keeping him and letting Sanchez go. But it wasn’t anything to do with his age or sell on value (I’m sure someone made that argument but I honestly don’t remember hearing it).
In all honesty I never really liked the ozil signing – he was a highly talented player who imo didn’t have the stomach for a fight. Like bergkamp without the grit – half the player imo. And yet he was held up as a similar level of player by many, which I’ve never understood. He also carried himself in that way as well, which rubbed me the wrong way. Came across as arrogant, but he didn’t back it up imo.
That said, I don’t blame him for anything around the contract (I blame the club), and I do think he was badly treated when he was effectively forced out. I do think his political beliefs had something to do with it (in particular, those to do with China – and he was in the right about that situation), as well as the COVID salaries issue (for which I also would come out on his side). The way arsenal behaved about it all came across underhanded and left a very bad taste.
On partey, I think arsenal have done the right thing – I think we’d like to keep him for another year, but only on the same wages and no more. Given his age and injury record (and the fact he looks too be declining imo), I think that’s more than fair, and if partey wants to leave, it’s all good.
Regarding the contract that was given to Ozil, at the time we had two of our better players contract’s running down. The other was Sanchez.
Although he left before Ozil received his contract, I for one would have preferred to see Ozil out the door and Sanchez to receive a new contract. And I’m not just saying that after the event, I wanted it to happen at the time.
For me Ozil wasn’t pulling up any tree’s for us, but Sanchez was. He was far a more valuable player for us at that time. And Sanchez actually admitted that the moment he walked into the Manchester United training ground he knew he had made a mistake in leaving Arsenal.
Not the first player to admit that either, Hleb was another example.
I’ve always wondered what he saw that gave him that immediate first impression at United, so much so that he immediately wanted to return to the Emirates.
Do you have any idea?
dgr8xt,
I’m afraid I can’t give you any definitive answer’s to your question. Maybe it was a case of the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
All I know is what was reported as to what Sanchez said at the time. I don’t recall if the reason was given.
But for me personally I was sad to see him go, watching him play you certainly could never accuse him of not trying could you. And he scored some bangers along the way to. 👍
United is a joke of a club. If they don’t get it right under Ratliffe considering the wholesome changes made and the hurt it has caused several families, then their stock will plummet much faster and deeper than it has since the Ferguson days.
They will then be considered by most as a genuine mid-table club.
Whenever I look at them, I’m happy for my Arsenal
Derek, according to Sanchez it was a lack of unity and the negativity around the club he witnessed at his first training session.
So it seems trophies aren’t the be all for a professional footballer.
By the way, you should catch up on what Sanchez says about Ozil and their partnership.
Good morning Ken1945,
Thanks for the information regarding Sanchez.👍
One important fact left out: how much was oezil’s brand bringing into the club compared to Partey. I’m assuming there could be something. Irrespective of shortcomings he still gets described as a “cult hero” and an epl great.
You don’t just pay for certain players’ ability but also their brand or if you like, STAR POWER e.g
CR7. Partey has low star power_ Saka’s the man right now. At a time, Ozil felt he was cuz sanchez was leaving and at another it was the Auba Aura running the Emirates.