Would Arsenal really sell Ozil to make room for Jack?

Bring back Jack, to sell Ozil?

In what is probably the most ridiculous thing you’ll hear all day, maybe even all week, one former Premier League coach thinks Arsenal should sell Mesut Ozil to make way for Jack Wilshere!

Jack Wilshere was sent out on loan from Arsenal to AFC Bournemouth on the final day of the Summer Transfer Window. It was a move that shocked many fans and professionals alike, but so far Wilshere has been impressive, especially in regards to his fitness. One of the key reasons for why Wilshere was sent out on loan from Arsenal is that the Gunners boss felt his fitness would only improve with regular playing time. At Bournemouth, Wilshere is yet to put a foot wrong and has stayed injury free for probably the longest period of time in the last few years.

Wilshere is therefore having a good season at Bournemouth and no injury concerns spells good news for Arsenal. However former Chelsea coach Ray Wilkins has dropped a rather shocking statement, by saying he feels Arsenal should sell Ozil to accommodate for Wilshere.

Wilkins said: “I’d bring Jack Wilshere back and let Ozil go. I think Jack is thoroughly enjoying himself at Bournemouth. He is actually playing week in, week out and you can see progress he is making. Thankfully he is over the injury problems he has had in the past. I think Jack Wilshere could be the equal of Ozil, if not better.”

I honestly don’t think I’ve heard something quite so ridiculous since the era of Arsenal lining up with Santos and Squillaci in the side.

I agree with Wilkins to the extent that Arsenal should be looking to welcome back Wilshere and implement him into the team, but to say he should replace Ozil is ridiculous. So long as the Gunners feel no need to sell the German, I would hope that instincts kick in to say that he’s one of our best players and is arguably irreplaceable in the side at this current stage.

Despite all his off the field antics and the unfortunate injury problems, I’m a big fan of Wilshere and would love to see him pulling on the red and white shirt of Arsenal again. When fit, he has an ability that is rarely matched in the Premier League and that’s something the Gunners should be looking to utilise in the side. But there is no way that our World Cup Winner Mesut Ozil, should be shown the exit door from the Emirates to accommodate for the Englishman.

In my opinion Wilshere will undoubtedly return to the side at the end of the season, if he can prove his fitness over the course of the entire campaign. But he’s more likely to replace the ageing and injury troubled Santi Cazorla than he is to replace Mesut Ozil!

By AH

14 Comments

    1. Two weeks ago Eden Hazard did not see Arsenal as a title contender, now Wilkins say we should seel one of the best player we have,coincidence ??or they just started to feel Arsenal heat behind them?what about selling Costa or Hazard????they got 39 good players on loan!!Sr Wilkins stop watching Arsenal concentrate on what Chelsea is doing stop watching your neighbour!!!! We will catch you and thanks for your advice but will keep Ozil, don’t be afraid, just a quick question why you are without a job????maybe because you never said something interesting or intelligent!!!!just shout up.

  1. I agree, Wilshere would not make a great no10, which Ozil is. It’s not gonna look too good with us if Wilshere is fine all season but then next season returns to us and the same problems keep cropping up. I don’t think this would only say something about us though, I think it would say something about the player. Playing competitively each week seems to keep you in good nick, but when you don’t have that you should still be putting the work in in training and closed door matches. So it maybe tells us something about the players commitment when not in front of cameras. Although, we must not forget that teams treat Arsenal a certain way, sure we’ve heard them admit it with ..you kick Arsenal to stop them play.

  2. I read elsewhere that Arsenal might only sanction the huge pay demands of either Ozil or Sanchez but NOT both.

    1. What about swapping Costa with Sanogo ????????is good idea Mr Wilkins,neeen we keep Sanogo ,What about selling Sanchez to give Sanogo a chance??????you will love it Mr Wilkins?????

  3. To me, it seems clear, based on our conservative financial history, that we are unlikely to keep Ozil and Sanchez. I also think Wenger is bluffing when he says he will force them to serve their remaining 18 months on their contracts. Doing this would be a total financial write-off.

    Considering that financial profit ranks ahead of sporting results, it makes sense to try to keep one of either Ozil or Sanchez. Following that reasoning or restriction, I would try to keep Sanchez because to me is one of the 5 best players in the world and rising in the ranking. I don’t think we can replace him and his versatility.

    So I do think it would be easier to replace Ozil than Sanchez and we know Ramsey could not replace Ozil and Santi is getting too old and injury prone, leaving Jack as one option but hopefully not THE option.

      1. Currently, yes- £160k a week. Will most likely be eclipsed by Ozil/Sanchez deals.

        Since the story and question posed is a non-starter- a simple answer is No.

        On to other news- Ox, Gibbs, and Ramsey also all have 18 months left on their contracts not just SancOz. All are struggling to get regular starts- are we at risk of losing all, a couple, or at least one?

  4. Idiotic story by the Telegraph. (with a nice little subtext about foreign players being greedy). It’s a compliment to our good form that the press are making up this sort of clickbait. Expect more of it.

  5. What’s with these rumour of selling Ozil? He wasn’t that committed when he first joined us because of the low quality players surrounding him,but after that first season he became a different player,I wonder why the Arsenal Board are penny pinching,talking about the salary structure. We claim to be a big club yet we don’t want to pay the salaries of the only two world class players we have in the club. Then I asked what sort of salary structure was in place when the stadium ticket price was increased,Stan taking money out of the club,now Gazidi has also joined the cue,what salary structure are they using? Buying another player + company,agent fees including his wages and salaries would cost more than what Ozil or Sanchez is demanding. I thought Wenger is good in economics,maybe it is not in his hands to finalise the deals.

  6. first of Wilshere is not a CAM. he is a deeplying playmaker or a box-to-box player.
    even when Eddie Howe uses him for Bournemouth as a CAM he drops deep naturally to playmake.
    Wilshere is heir to Cazorla in our CM position. next season when he returns he ll be rotated with Cazorla same way Xhaka is rotated with Coquelin this term in CDM till Cazorla got injured.

    Ozil is our CAM n isn’t leaving cos it’s not about the money n he has already played for the club others dream to play in (Real Madrid) cnt play for arch-rival (Barca) which leaves Bayern.
    the club n manager just need to show ambition to keep stars like Alexis n Ozil.
    it could be by adding another worldClass player or being firm n merit in team selection n subs.

  7. @onochie Arsenal actually have 5 world class players viz petr cech, ozil, koscielny, cazorla, alexis. A huge transfer fee does not equal world class. Its the skill they display on the pitch and the players mentioned above are the best at what they do. That’s why when any one of them is away or gets injured it always creates a significant drop in quality of play.

  8. People tends to forget how many games Ozil and Sanchez have played.
    Ramsey, Wilshere, Carzola play 5-6 consecutive games and then bang, they get injured and out for a few months. AFC should never rely on such players in first team.

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