Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil receive bad news
Arsenal won’t give either star massive wages
With each passing day, the chances of Arsenal retaining Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil continue to decline. Yesterday’s comments from Gunners chief Sir Chips Keswick certainly didn’t leave any Arsenal fans with a lasting sense of optimism.
Keswick was steadfast with his opinion that neither man would get a massive contract offer from the North London club. Instead of meeting the demands of his club’s most talented attackers, he pledged that Arsenal will continue to negotiate “rationally” for the foreseeable future. In this context, it seems that rational serves as a synonym for cheap.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if we start to read more and more stories about philosophical differences between Keswick and manager Arsene Wenger in the coming weeks. The French gaffer has managed the club’s finances quite frugally over time, but it seems that he wants to spend big now. That isn’t much of a surprise considering how close we are to the end of Wenger’s time in charge.
Arsenal fans need to hope this is just posturing on behalf of the club’s ownership. If it’s not, it could portend summer departures for both Alexis and Ozil this summer. That’s certainly the nightmare scenario for Gunners fans around the world.
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The club’s negotiating stance could certainly change quickly in the event that one star elects to leave the club. If one of the pair is sold, the fans are going to put immense pressure on the club to retain the other. Losing both would be viewed as a betrayal by the majority of the club’s fan base.
I still believe that Alexis is significantly more likely to leave than Ozil. If nothing else, he just seems like the more unhappy player. Whereas Ozil has a propensity to go missing on occasion, he does seem to enjoy life in London. Alexis, on the other hand, seems continuously irritated at the club’s failure to come up big when it matters most.
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Arsenal fans hoping to see their club flash massive cash this summer are set for a disappointment. Evidently neither Alexis Sanchez or Mesut Ozil are quite good enough to prompt the North London club to fully flex their financial might.