Could selling Mesut Ozil save Arsenal’s season?

Could a Mesut Ozil departure benefit us? By Nick

Rumors are currently swirling around that Unai Emery might want to offload Mesut Ozil this winter. If the rumors are true this will be the second midfielder we’ll be losing in 2019. Since our only option is to loan at the moment, selling Ozil could give us some extra money to buy players.

I was looking at some of our transfer rumors and found that Conor Coady from Wolves is one defender we’re linked with. For me, getting a player like him won’t make the team better but due to our lack of funds, that’s the type of player we might have to be getting. I think he’s better than Laurent Koscielny, but it still just doesn’t seem right that we’re linked with a player from a lower table club when we’re meant to be the top 6 richest/biggest club in Europe. I don’t know if it’s selfishness, but I just want to see us linked with bigger players.

It’s obviously clear Unai Emery doesn’t rate Ozil. His last game he played for us was 45 minutes against Brighton on Boxing Day. For a player on £350,000 a week, that’s a huge burden on us financially if he’s not going to be used every single week. It’s completely fine if Emery does not think he’ll be an asset to the team week in week out, but if that’s the case, we should be urgent to sell him, and should be looking for a replacement as soon as this month.

This whole situation in my eyes is not Emery’s fault, and I strongly believe he’s in the right in all this. The main people we should be slating, is the past regime. Ozil did not have the best season last year, and putting him on £350,000 a week just to ensure we don’t lose Alexis and him in the SAME window is despicable. If Emery doesn’t think Ozil fits in his plans, than I think he’s completely correct, but we can’t deny the fact that we do lack a lot of creativity without him. There’s only one thing that I disagree with Emery, and that is the fact that Mesut Ozil was left completely out of the 18 man squad this weekend against West Ham. In a game where we lacked creativity and looked flat, he would’ve been a good player to bring on in the second half to help create more chances.

Although it will be sad and maybe devastating to the team if Mesut Ozil left, but it’s honestly the best we can do in order to decrease our wage bill. We can cry out for money from Stan Kroenke, but no matter how much we do we’re not getting anything this January. I strongly believe that selling Ozil could benefit us and maybe save our season. He is not getting any younger, and I think if we want maximum money for him, we need to sell now, or in the summer. I think if we sell Ozil and buy a defender and midfielder with his fee, it will be good business by us.

If we try selling Ozil it won’t be easy. Mesut has recently expressed his love for Arsenal and that he wants to stay, so it’ll be hard for teams to convince him to join their club. Another problem is, who would want to pay his wages? I know there are clubs in China that could pay them, but it’s not very attractive for him as he’s still an ambitious player and wants to win trophies. I don’t think any club would want to pay £350,000 a week for a 30 year old, so after all we might be stuck with him for 2 more seasons, and it’s all thanks to the past regime…

Nick Carson

37 Comments

  1. ???? I understand what you’re saying… I’ve said before I don’t think anyone should be on that sort of money (not just Mesut!) I just don’t want him to go!!
    Besides what the hell would we talk about on here.. article after article it’s all about Ozil ??

  2. Ozil’s salary could pay two top wingers, which are the type of players Arsenal really need currently

    Arsenal can have more options in attacking if they have wide players that like to race with the opponents, as opposed to having a bunch of no 10s/ CMs

    Unfortunately having this discussion is useless, because there was no real interest in Ozil before his mega contract extension, let alone now when he is old and consistently producing bad performance

  3. Your final sentence says it all.We could not give him away given the utter incompetence of Gazidis in sanctioning such a ludicrous wage increase.With regard to your comments concerning Coady ,from what I’ve seen of him he is exactly the dominating physical presence we need at the back and in my view he would improve us defensively.Watched him closely last night and he impressed me.

  4. Selling Ozil now helps in the summer transfer window but probably doesn’t do much for the rest of the season apart from save money and stop us from having something to debate vigorously.

  5. Only way we can let Ozil go or any club to take him is if we let him go for free.

    Release him from his contract and the new club will pay similar wages.

    He only has 2 and a half years left on his current contract.

  6. 300k a week (+-15600 million per year)

    So if he has 2 and half years left and we release him for free.

    The new club will pay him either that amount for 2 years (due to his age) = 30 million for 2 year contract.

    Also to make up for his wages a signing on fee will apply.

    This is the only simple way of doing it.

    No big club will pay his wages plus a fee of maybe 25 million for him.

    Only free will work.

    1. Who do you propose we play in his position then ?
      We are talking about a World Cup winner ,full time German international,a formy Real Madrid starter .
      I don’t think ozil is the problem but emerys tactics

      1. Use Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Smith-Rowe or Nelson as no 10. Or no need to use no 10 at all, as it usually slows down Arsenal attacks, and use a quicker 4-3-3/ 4-1-2-1-2 instead:

        ………………….Leno
        Bellerin . Mustafi . Sokratis . Kolasinac
        ………………..Torreira
        …Maitland-Niles …… Guendouzi
        ………Lacazette/ Aubameyang
        ….Nelson ………………………..Odoi

    2. Hows the taxation in England? If Özil makes 300k a week, he will get half of that after taxes?

      Can we sell him to Monaco? There are no taxes right? So even if he made 200k a week, he would be making more there.

      Rumor circulating that Rabiot is available this month for £13.5m. Getting somehow rid of Özil and Ramsey would release wages for Rabiot, Suarez, CB and maybe even a winger.

      Wishful thinking. We are stuck with Özil, we will get nothing for Ramsey who will most likely get injured soon and save himself for summer.

      1. Interesting fact regarding the tax issue, but i think we need to move forward and sometimes is tough when doing so.

        Its not going to be perfect. The manager seems to know what type of players he wants.

        High energy. I dont think he actually wants to player a traditional number 10. I think he would prefer a more 4-3-3 Liverpool type of team and not 4-2-3-1.

        That’s why i think Denis is a target, because if you look at how Barca play, they play more of a 4-3-3.

        And Denis seems to be that player who works hard, creates chances, but also has pace.

        He can also play centrally and wide, so if you think about it, it suits us more to get him.

        But hope this Management Team and Owner supports this coach.

        1. I agree. Emery’s formation he’s used does not involve a traditional CAM but a forward, 2 wingers, 2 CM’s and a 1 DM. Therefore Özil doesn’t suit this formation. And even though Özil runs a lot, his pressing is quite apathetic. He averages 0.6 tackles per game, even less interceptions which would leave me to believe he might press, but without end product. And from what I’ve seen, he really does this. He never seem to look like he would get the ball back anyways.

          Elneny posted a cryptic message yesterday, almost like a farewell message. Is he on the move?

          1. This pressing game you talk of ,I haven’t seen any evidence of it all season so that argument is non existent.you say he wants to play a 443 so why is he playing 5 at the back with 2 holding midfielders.just look at the last 4weeks and are formation and team selection have been farcical.
            Even when we went on the unbeaten run it was plain to see we were still struggling.

            1. @Dan kit

              The reason Emery is playing 5 at the back is because he has ZERO wingers to work with. So it’s down to the wing-backs to create that width. And when used, it’s actually been very effective in regards to the wing-backs. Bellerin, and Kolasinac have been excellent in the final third this season. I am sure once Emery can get some wingers in, he’ll revert to 4 at the back.

              To be fair, Emery has tried Auba, Ozil, Iwobi, and Miki on the wings, and it hasn’t worked, as none of them are wingers. So I disagree with his so called ‘farcical’ team selections, and formations. It’s actually fantastic having a coach who’s willing to try so many different things, in comparison to Wenger, who just did the exact same tactics and formation for about 12 years!

  7. I don’t know much about Conor Coady. But I disagree with the statement about buying players from lower clubs. If they are good enough, buy them. That’s how it should be. How many players we bought from top clubs have improved our performance in recent years?

    Most of the defensive players in Liverpool weren’t purchased from top clubs, they are doing OK today. The same with Spud. We need to stop wasting money on top clubs’ rejects.

  8. Yes it does help in the areas of fans stop making everything about him. The guy is not playing and yet every problem with Emery’s team bad performance were his fault. The earlier he is gone from the sh**t show that we are now the better for him.

  9. Ozil goes missing when it matters most,inconsistent and at 350k its a joke.We can pay 3 top players in Ozil’s wages alone.The wage bill has reached the ceiling thus we are unable to buy unless we free up but we have a challenge because no team is willing to take him on those wages – simply put poor decision by wenger giving him such an amount together with Ramsay as well as Welbeck resulting in costing his successor in the transfer.

  10. We will only be more competitive and do well in transfers this coming summer when the majority of our average players will be shipped out and or not renewing their contracts which are running out at the end of the season e.g Kolscieny,Welbeck (Cech & Ramsay though confirmed retiring and leaving respectively),Monreal and then dead wood – Mustafi, Elneny,Mikh. Only then can we assess Unai having bought his own players suiting his tactics otherwise he has done a great job with a lot of average players. Remember Pep’s and Klop’s 1st season at Man City and Liverpool respectively, it wasn’t until they got players fitting their philosophy that they started playing well in the 2nd or third season respectively.

  11. “but it still just doesn’t seem right that we’re linked with a player from a lower table club when we’re meant to be the top 6 richest/biggest club in Europe.”

    Please tell Man City this.

    They signed Stones from Everton who are below them, Mahrez from LCFC who are below them, Stirling from a LFC squad who was below them at time of purchase…

    1. Like I said in the sentence after that: it may be just me being selfish. I guess I just worded that wrong. What I meant to say was, I don’t like the players we’re linked to from the lower table teams. Conor Coady (who is rumored to be valued at around £5m) just wouldn’t improve the defence in my opinion. He’s a good player, but in my opinion he just isn’t ready to be at a big club. There are great players from lower teams, and certainly ones that can help us (Wilfred Zaha, and Ben Chillwell spring to mind). I just want to see us linked to big players, tired of us acting like a small club 🙁

  12. Hello fellow gooners, long time viewer but first time posting in the comments. I’ve watched countless arguments about Ozil on here over the years, whether it’s his work rate or body language or the other side of the coin about his killer defense splitting passes, unmatched dribbling skills, top assist maker in the galaxy. I used to really rate Ozil and despite his natural skill, which is undoubted, he has never bar one season shown me that he is willing to fight for us. Even if he was the best midfielder in the world, he has no loyalty or emotional attachment of any sort to our beloved Arsenal.

    Now, his exorbitant wages aside, he’s not even willing to fight for his place in the team and it’s becoming more and more clear. Back spasms and colds and sore knees, I have never in my 20 years watching football seen someone with so many unexplained absences, especially with how supposedly crucial he is to our creative midfield. It was going on waaay before Emery took over so it’s obvious there’s something else we don’t see or know. We can guess all day and no one will know for sure unless someone comes out and says something, but there’s no explanation that will vindicate that kind of form for a so called WC player. It’s been a pretty while since he’s had a consistent run of games now and it doesn’t seem like it’s about to change to be honest.

    All that doesn’t bother me though, he’s not the first flop nor will he be the last that’s for sure. But rating him to the point of worship, defending him to the death against other fellow fans. Just the fact that is such a polarizing figure inside our club means he’s no good for it and things must change. Even if he was indeed performing, clubs have rid themselves of divisive and talented players to stabilize clubs. We just need to stick together for once and stop giving ammunition to all the other clubs and the media that have been making us the butt of every football joke for years…

    Considering some fans have compared Ozil to the unparalleled Dennis Bergkamp is a football crime in itself. I have compared him with some truly legendary no.10’s and in my own humble and certainly biased opinion, there will never be another football player with 1/10 his mixture of talent, loyalty and ice cold savagery.

    P.S. Sorry my first post is so long, a lot of pent up blabbering 😛

    1. read your post and thought to myself did i get reincarnated?

      nothing to add on this page mate fully agree , and welcome to the forum 🙂

      Ps: i can’t tell us apart at the moment, i feel a bromance developing, oh and now that you started you better not stop commenting mate 😉

      1. Haha thank you, Sal. Happy to be here, despite the arguments and the banter on here it’s obvious that all of us love this club and want the best for it. While we may not all agree on the methods, the end game is the same.

        I knew there’s bound to be another Bergkamp purist, perhaps dozens, on here. To this day can’t watch a highlight reel of him without getting chills down my spine. A true example of professionalism, pure filthy unadulterated talent and consistency at a time when we needed it. Would strongly recommend reading his autobiography “Stillness and Speed” if you haven’t already 😀

        1. Pharaoh, it may be your first post but please don’t make it your last, Thoroughly enjoyed your post and your reference to the great Dennis Bergkamp. my number one player in my 60 years of following Arsenal.

  13. What’s this I’m hearing about a boardroom feud between Sven and Raul? If Sven leaves under this condition, I wonder where Arsenal is heading?

    1. Sven exit is imminent. Apparently, he’s disappointed with the lack of funds to do minor deals this month and even clear signs of funds unavailability in the summer.
      Bye bye Sven, hope you get a better club with solid ambitions

  14. The premise of this article is pure speculation and a bad one at that. We can’t sell Ozil
    on his wages unless he was playing and performing.
    If Emery wanted to sell him he should have allowed him to play in his role maybe shine and
    then sell him if any suitors come up. Keeping the player in the shelf has damaged any chance to
    sell/loan him out. Which begs the bigger question ?
    Is Emery able to manage players to the best interest of AFC or his ego and way of wanting to do things clouting his judgement?
    I think the latter is true.

    What do you think?

    1. This article was nothing but my opinion on this situation. This was based what I think we should do about this. I think if a player does not fit the managers plans than he should be sold, but the question of him being able to handle egos is also one to be considered.

  15. It could but don’t see it happening !I ,d love to see ozil going in January with the money saved invested in 2 players unai wants and needs,but who is going to want ozil on 350000/week unless we subside some of it any anyway he looks comfy where he is,his decision will say a lot about the man!does he want to play on sit on the bench racking up insane money time will tell but give the gaffer,club,players time and support

  16. For me it’s more about, whatever emery said, is only about trust. Ozil, Ramsey, and Laca are not trusted to be in the first team. Yes, Ozil is inconsistent, lazy and not tracking back? What about Laca and Ramsey? Somehow they could’t get emery’s trust to be in the starting eleven either. Are they also lazy? It’s believed that emery has his tactical reason and playing style that he believes work better with his trusted regular starting eleven, and from what we’ve seen recently is with Laca, mostly lately, and Ramsey on the bench while Ozil completely left out. What’s funny for me is that the fact that they basically became Emer’s savior as they made Arsenal a different team when they came off the bench. It also happened with some good games Arsenal had with Ozil in it. But well, okay, it’s far from what probably Emery wants from those players. The point is how come those out of favor players somehow proved to be the better options over those in the starting eleven? On the other hand how many times we need to see Xhaka makes terrible mistakes leading to a goal? Will he lose his spot in the starting eleven? No, because he has Emery’s trust. So, it’s clear that Emery basically wants Ozil and Ramsey, and also Laca I guess, to leave. For me, it’s a pity to let them go as we still don’t know if the new players are better than them. Say, Suarez. Isn’t it too much to expect that high from a 25 year old player who only played twice as a substitute this season? Well, its Barca, but even Ozil now will have more playing time there, let alone 25 year old Ozil. It would happen the same with Ramsey, who attracts Juve, the much bigger team than Arsenal. Call me being skeptical, even with the money the club get for selling Ramsey and Ozil, it’s not that easy to find a better replacement as Arsenal are not that desirable destination for players better than Ramsey or Ozil. So, if in the end we only get players with the same calibre, or even worse, at least those players would be treated more like Xhaka than like Ramsey or Ozil.

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