I am struggling to understand why it is that everyone seems to believe that we cannot possibly sell Mesut Ozil or Henrikh Mkhitaryan due to their high wages. I do completely understand that other clubs would be reluctant to take on either of their salary’s due to their current form and age but there are ways to offload them.
Raul Sanllehi and co made it very clear that we would not be letting players run down their contract beyond two years (with the exception of the player being old and retaining no real value). I also think it is clear that Arsenal does not wish to extend their contracts which must surely mean a sale?
So, why not speak with both players, inform them again of the new regime and then further explain that they are not in the manager’s plans for the future and that they think it best for them to move onto a new club. Offer them out at a reasonable transfer value to other clubs in Europe and let them pick their destination. I still think with Ozil’s name and brand that he could pull in between £100 – £150 thousand a week in wages. Arsenal then just offer him a settlement fee of a large sum to supplement his loss in wages.
Example: Sell Mesut Ozil for £25 million, give him a £15 million payout and bank the £10 million. This way we still get a small fee to put towards buying a replacement and also save on paying him £38 million over the next two years, at the end of which he will leave for free anyway!
Surely it is in Arsenal’s best interest to cash in now, take an initial hit and be done with this rather than keep a sulky luxury player that the manager doesn’t want to play, pay him £38 million and then wave goodbye to him for free at the end.
This would also help with rebalancing the wage bill.
I also believe this would be in Ozil’s best interest because at 30 years of age he hasn’t got many good years left and would he want to spend the next two years on the bench? I would hope not. If he leaves now he could also probably secure that last big 4/5 year contract whereas that would be much harder in two years time.
I see this as a win-win for all involved as Ozil will get to play somewhere in the first team, he’ll get a longer contract, he’ll still be getting decent wages and on top of that, he gets a £15 million bonus.
It will also appease the fans because if they let Ozil, Mkhitaryan and co run down their contracts it completely contradicts Arsenal’s ‘new transfer policy’ and leave the fans never believing a word they say again.
Do you agree with this or do you see any issues with this suggestion?
Article by Dimitri Wren
Good idea. A £15 million bonus would mean he will cope with a much lower salary.
But I don’t see Clubs wanting him at even £150,000 per week
He was that bad last season. Bellerin had more assists than Ozil
It’s more effective to use wide players to create chances now
For instance, Klopp used his fullbacks to assist his wingers and both fullbacks got two-digit assists because of that playing style
Yes
Ryan Fraser would be great as a left winger for us and more useful than anyone we have currently in midfield
They have multi-year contracts on very high wages which are guaranteed. If Ozil makes rumored £350k a week, why would he ever walk away from that?
Would any of us willingly give up massive wages like that?
He fleeced the club and now it’s his right to milk it til contract expires.
Club hierarchy allowed it to happen; Kronke could have stepped in anytime and put an end to the foolishness.
I’m not suggesting he gives up the wages but if arsenal were to give him £15 million pay out and add that to the £15 million he would earn at another club in the 2 years there, then he would be on for about £30 million. I realise it’s still slightly less than the figure he would get at Arsenal but if he has any love of the game or an ego then surely he would take the slight pay drop to play somewhere else in the first team rather than rot on the bench for 2 years?
Why would Ozil take a 15 million pound payout when he’s owed 36.4 million in wages over the next two years?
Also, Ozil makes a lot via endorsements, social media and merchandise sales. He is not going to play for just any club. He needs a club with a big brand otherwise his own brand takes a hit.
Arsenal are not going to pay another team a huge pile of cash to take Ozil off our hands. Only a handful of teams in the world can afford Ozil and none of them has any interest in him. Ozil is going nowhere. Get over it.
Again, he’s only entitled to the 36 million in wages for playing for 2 years. So if he moved you would have to add his wages at his new club into the equation. So if he got a 15 million payout and then earned 15 million over the two years in wages at another club (like he would at arsenal) then that would be 30 million which isn’t a huge drop for someone like him. (but he actually gets to play)
As for the endorsements side of things, Arsenal are now a europa league team for the last 3 years and could be for the next few too. I am sure someone in another league who is playing champions league football would be fine for his endorsement deals etc because i’m not suggesting he move to do to a mid table Spanish side or anything.
It’s only a suggestion.
I think is a good idea, however no club would pay 25 million pounds for a 30 year old, who is not even on form.
They can agree a free transfer perhaps?
they might because of the revenue he can bring in through shirt sales, etc. But for 150k per week, I doubt most clubs can afford to do that. We are stuck with this guy until his contract is finished. 🙁
Nice ideas you state in your article but will Ozil and Mkhitaryan want out as much as Arsenal want them out??
If I’m also not wrong didn’t Ozil reject a January move to PSG??It’s funny how things have panned out and even funnier that it has taken many so many seasons realize he should be sold.Im sure the Europa final was an eye opener but to some of us it was just another match for him where he failed to pull his weight against a top team just like many of his past seasons.
Emery, clearly tried to cause a stir so as to force him out of the club but that didn’t work as he faced fan pressure and we were largely unimpressive even when we won in that period.He then played him and many realized again how poor he was.As for me I have nothing against the player but I expect nothing but failure from him if he starts next season.
Mkhitaryan can be a good backup but his wages mean it’s not worth having him here for that role.He surely must be sold this transfer window
Is there any news from the ITKs about Ozil’s transfer, kev?
Wasn’t the move to PSG just a loan move?
Give them whatever they want, as long as we get them out! Özil is the absolute worst piece of deal Arsenal ever made, and Mkhitaryan has had a very insignificant impact – he’s not even PEA’s closest friend in the club. Make a f*cking statement with these players
I don’t think any club would pay 25 M for the 30 year old Mesut Ozil and he will be 31 in October
If I were Ozil, I wouldn’t trade 33.6 M (in a form of two years salary) with 10 M. Moreover, I would get that obscene amount of money by just sitting on the bench for two years
He had no suitors three years ago when he was still enjoying Sanchez’s assists, let alone now when he is barren. He would most likely stay and I hope Arsenal can use him well till his contract expires
That’s true. He would be stupid to leave that great salary. He’s lazy on the field so I don’t think not playing much would upset him enough to leave. Also he’s retired from International duty so nothing to prove.
Thanks Arsene. I think he agreed to pay him that ridiculous amount because of that 19 assists season
I just hope we can get more than 2 assists out of him this season
I really doubt a stern talking to would make those two change or give up their monstrous salaries. I also don’t understand why Wenger signed Mkhitaryan even after admitting his scoring record was a huge worry. It just goes on to show what a care-free attitude they had when dealing with the club’s resources.
Getting rid of those two is imperative though as it would shave about £27M a year off our wage bill and allow 3 or 4 worldclass players to be signed. Oh well.
Wenger clearly was suffering from some sort of dementia in his years of rein.
The ozil scenario is abit the like the bale scenario. Both comfortable, happy playing the bit part role loving the insta and cosmopolitan life. Bale I can understand 600k salary who would want to give that up. Bit ozil he ain’t moving, although I thought he would have a bit of self respect and dignity and move on.
I totally agree and would go further. Tell them they will not be in the first team squad at all. If they want to play football they must leave.
Sell Mykatarian… on his wages he’s only worth £10m. Give Ozil’s that £10m to tear up his contract.
We’ll have our Arseanl back
But Ozil is on £18 million a year so would he go for that? I doubt it.
I don’t know why this hasn’t happened yet. Ozil and Miki need to be made as uncomfortable as possible. Not opposed to Emery hinting they are not welcome either. They serve no purpose and are poor players.
Love this concept . We need to follow through on this and let’s move forward .
A Chinese club should just come for ozil, that way they can pay him whatever he wants I don’t care. Let him just leave us and also take mhikitaryan along with him
You make sense in Your article
OT.. when is Holding due back, does anyone know? Saw some pictures of him in the gym – looks like he’s beefed up a bit!!
Gutted Hector will miss the start of the season.. September time he’ll be back I think ?
We better act now than regretting when things are out of control and secondly he Ozil was given many chances to prove him self which he didn’t show up in big games even now in small games, that’s why Unai Emery is not seeing his impact which is some thing his supporters don’t see. Even he knows that. So sell him even if in a bargain price.
I’m trying to figure out how he got 19 assists one season a few years ago but only 2 this season. He has better strikers too and better DM
The only difference is Alexis as a Winger and Cazorla behind Ozil
Maybe if we got a Cazorla type CM and a Winger like Ryan Fraser it would help Ozil
It’s was all about Giroud as most of those assists were crosses. Remember it dried up when Giroud stopped scoring.
Sorry but have you seen those 19 assists?
They were mostly from Corners, Freekicks / set-pieces.
Go have a look at them on Youtube. He hardly ever split th defences. After you have looked at those 19 assists then com back and tell me how many of them came from him doing what Cesc used to do here.
And I said back then that you can’t rely on set-play / corner assists as your main strength as they 50/50 and solely depended a defender or a striker to header it. It’s difficult to sustain and that is why it was a one off.
It reminds me of the 18 assists Fabregas had made for Chelsea the season before. He got most of those assist through freekicks and corners that Costa and the chelsea defenders converted. But it was unsustainable as the season after he looked terrible.
I don’t think we can entirely just look at the players around him and come to this conclusion. Most of his arsenal career has been a mixed bag. Now it just seems to be a downhill slope.
Ahh man carzola we missed him big time and out of all the players we let go for free he was the one we needed the most I think. Look what he has gone and done in Spain.
Yeah man same here. I heard due to a good season at Vilareal, he is recalled to Spain national team. What a shame.
Ozil (and Xhaka) involved a lot in build up play, assisting overlapping fullbacks whose cross resulted in goals. It counts as indirect assist I guess.
Previous seasons he would pass directly to Sanchez, Giroud, Walcott, etc
Best lessons are learnt the hard way! _/\_ to God that we were not trapped by his former teammate[Alexis] who is milking utd on the other side both could have caused dressing room unrest at Arsenal the way its going at Man utd, some players who are performing better would think that they are giving more on pitch while their fellows are going home with good wages
I totally agree with you. I mean Ozil will not be foolish enough to let go of a bird in hand just to chase after a thousand in the forest. Seem logical that he will honour his contract.
How could we not offer Ozil somewhere for £15m, cut our losses or do a swap deal with some club who may have a player we could do with & that wants Ozil. Same with Mhikitarian. Let Iwobi & Smithrowe battle it out to do the so called no10 role & see where it goes.
Xhaka is wanted by Athletico, let him go for the £40m+ & let AMN go into his proper position in CM. Elneny can go also, we could afford to buy in this area for £30m
Promote Tutu from Academy to RB to help until Bellerin is back. Chambers is back too & plays in a variety of positions.
Beilik back also who can come in the CB positions to let Mustafi & Koss leave for whatever price. Mavraponas & Holding are there along with Sokratis.
Reiss Nelson is back so RW is his position. We are linked with Celtics LB Teirney, Jenko linked too with Cektic but WestBrom now in talks. Would allow Monreal to go back to Spain for a small fee.
In talks with Alexis Claude Maurice from Lorient for £20+m, that would be LW position filled. Willok & Baka from Academy can back up.
We may not have a big budget but we can do alot of shrewd changes to help the club move in from all the BS and rebuild once and for all.
Leno
Bellerin – Tutu
Holding – Mavraponas
Sokratis – Beilik
Tierney – Kolasnic
Torriera – Chambers
AMN – Guendouzi & NEW CM
Iwobi – SmithRowe
Nelson – Baka
Auba – Laca
Alexis – Willok
Thats a rebuild with one new signing & there could be a couple more if we did it this way & room for signings
Sean,
With these players if can be honest with you you will be fighting relegation and if you face man city will be 10-0 and I hope the delay in Arsenal transfer has to do with Edu waiting to be confirmed
are you living in dreamland? the only way Ozil will leave is if arsenal pay up the rest of his contract , no club will pay this useless player his mad wages. If this deal that Ozil got from Wengar was in the financial district the police would have been called in !!!!!!
I have just read an article on here talking about “WHAT IS KRONKE SUPPOSED TO DO?”.
People talking about how the FFP rules and regulations are affecting us.
So we are now just expected to accept that we are dinished and this is where we should expect to be for some time?
Imagine the rubbish. Aww, Kroenke is hamstrung and that is why he never spends seriously like our other rivals.
I have seen people accepting our current stagnant and hopeless situation talking about “FFP this FFP that”.
How our fanbase has been broken down mentally step by step by Kroenke. We used to win EPL titles, then our expectations were lowered to “Atleast we make TOP 4 each season for the last 13 years or so, now we can’t even get into the TOP 4 anymore and we our expectations are being lowered even farther by this nonsense about “Aww, what is Kroanke meant to do when FFP regulations are against him investing in Arsenal?”. Smh
This thing about “We have spent more than £250 million on our current squad in 6 years so we shoulf be greatful for that”. It reminds me of the STATS monsters that just quote stats with no context whatsoever. Can we compare how much out other rivals have spent in the same period?
If Kroanke has been finding it so hard to make us competitive in the last 10 years bcause of this FFP rubbish then why doesn’t he sell our club to another person that is willing to be tough against FFP? Usmanov was desperate for the opportunity to own us but Kroanke froze him out.
We were promised big things if we moved to the EMIRATES. Then the moment we got there the austerity began. We are Paying for the stadium became the excuse for the next decade. But then the moment we start spending a little we are told the FFP are affecting us and we are making losses. Smh
One more question. What is the point of KROANKE at Arsenal then if he is not willing to show that he would tey anything to make us competitive even if it means bordering on breaking the rules? He just seems to be hiding behind any excuse to not spend big.
What a jokjoke.
Send both of them to Reserve team or under 21 if they don’t want out hounotbly
First of all, I am not defending the current Ozil – he is not the Ozil a few years ago. Not all sportsmen can be evergreen like Federer. But we must also be aware that our mini-revival starting in Jan coincided with Ozil being re-integrated into the team. We moved into the pole position for a 3rd place finish until our coach decided to prioritise his Europa glory over a league position.
That means that we need to replace Ozil with someone who have skills but in a modernised way. We need someone to control the midfield. A bunch of headless chickens running around with the greatest zest won’t win us any trophy.
A coach who believe in graft more than craft is not a top 4 coach because we cannot take the game to the teams that aim for a draw from the start. A team without talent is just a mid-table team.
If you read various reports, AW did not agree to give Ozil that big contract – he rather have players running down their contracts. AW may have lost his mojo but we should put the blame where it should be. By the way, just love the old AW who sold Henry at the right time.
Lastly, if you want to do business, don’t bad-mouth your own merchandise.
Zidane wants to move Bale. He never bad-mouth his capability but position it as a personality crash.