Now that Alexis Sanchez has finally buggered off from disrupting the Arsenal team, the media are now free to go all out and ask Arsene Wenger about the contract negotiations going on with Mesut Ozil. There have been lots of positive reports about the talks, but at the end of the day there is still no signature on a bit of paper to guarantee he will be an Arsenal player next season.
First of all Le Prof was asked if Henrik Mhkitaryan was a replacement for Ozil, or would he play them together or not. He replied: “Yes, our intention is [to do it]. As I have said before, we signed Mkhitaryan on a long-term contract and our intention is to keep Ozil at the club and hopefully we will manage to do that very soon.”
Very soon? So are they close to an agreement with Ozil? “Not close enough to be optimistic and not far enough to be pessimistic.
“The vibes I get from his commitment, his focus and his desire for achievement with the team is that he behaves like someone who is completely focused and committed and ready to commit but after that contract negotiations are what they are. We are not close enough to tell you ‘Yes, he will do it.’ I don’t know.”
A usual non-committal statement from Wenger! I don’t want to know what the ‘vibes’ are telling him, I want to know what his ‘words’ are saying. You know.. surely they must have had a few chats about it by now? Or do they just sit across the table and send ‘vibes’!!
Darren N