Arsenal must make decisions over players in final year of their contracts. by Konstantin Mitov
I have a sneaky feeling that despite the probable signing of Alexandre Lacazzete, we might be doing it to replace departing figures rather than building on top of what we’ve got. And it will be the wrong people leaving.
But before we spill out the elephants in the room, there are 2 major problems with this. One is that those players will be very hard to replace, but the bigger concern is that we allowed this to happen… Again!
It happened with Van Persie and now Alexis, Ozil and the Ox are all entering their final year and we might keep them against their will, but if they don’t sign now, I don’t think they’ll sign in a years time. The major question is do we cash in on them, or can we do something to keep them?
I think we missed the chance to keep them. Negotiations are going far too long and I think with our lack of CL football, all 3 have made up their mind to leave. Worst is, they’ll probably go to strengthen our rivals. Alexis is bound for City, because of Pep and the money, and the Ox looks like he’s interested in the Klopp project at Liverpool.
The potential signing of Mahrez could also be a sign as to what happens to Chamberlain or Ozil, and this means we might have another year where we believe that Theo will fulfil his potential and this won’t work again.
Moving on though, Ozil’s form last season and his wage demands are the only reason I believe he might stay still, but I have growing concerns. We might sign Lacazzete, but if that means selling Sanchez to cover for the transfer fee, we’re at best standing still, rather than moving forward.
Why aren’t those players staying despite major salary improvements offered in their new deals? It’s because they probably don’t believe we’ll compete and that could be backed by the fact that we let their deals run down, before we remembered we need them.
For me, Wenger is the main reason they are willing to leave. He won’t take us to a league title and we’re obviously not in the champions league so if they sign new deals it could mean that for the rest of their careers, they’ll be stuck fighting the battle for 4th.
I don’t want to be negative, but we’re about 10 days away from our first preseason game and we’re still yet to announce anything on the future of 3 first team players, two of which were amongst the few bright lights in our dark season.
Hopefully new signings will be enough to convince them to stay, but I’m fearful, because we might end up with 3 players uninterested in next season, waiting for their deals to expire, which might be near 100 million if we decide to sell.
I don’t want us to do that, because I don’t care about the money, because we’re rich, but, and this is a major but, I want people who’d want to play for this football club. And if those three have set their heart elsewhere, than knowing Arsene, we’ll be getting rid of them. Do you think they’ll stay for one more season, sign new deals, or leave this summer?
See you in the comments.
Konstantin