Manchester United target Mesut Ozil

Manchester United are targeting Mesut Ozil

With their deals coming to an end, the future of Alexis Sanchez has been a constant talking point of Arsenals season but another one that occasionally gets forgotten about is the future of Mesut Ozil.

The No.10 has come into criticism this season for his lack of defensive work in bigger games and there has been talk this season about Ozil along with Sanchez demanding higher wages from Arsenal that the club seem hesitant to pay them both the money they want along with Ozil stating that he would only sign extend his stay at the Emirates if Arsene Wenger were to also extend his contract with Arsenal to remain their manager, which is still up in the air if he will given the growing pressure that he is under given the clubs lack of trophies in the last decade.

If Ozil was to leave the club in the summer, there would be no shortage of clubs looking to sign his name to a contract.

One of those clubs seem to be Manchester United coming from reports today. Ozil did play under Jose Mourinho during their time together at Spanish giants Real Madrid but the question that should be asked if United did want to sign Mesut Ozil, where exactly would he fit into the team? Despite the criticism he receives for his lack of tracking back and helping out his team, the German international is wonderful in attack and is one of the best players in the world in creating chances and opportunities for his team mates, getting 19 assists for his club in the Premiership last season.

It’d stand to reason that Ozil would operate better under Mourinho at Manchester United, United play a 4-3-2-1 formation under Mourinho so finding a position for him wouldn’t be difficult with the player slotting into the No.10 position and the prospect of Ozil setting up chances for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan would be water-mouthing and would be better for Ozil than trying to create for an Arsenal team with Oliver Giroud and Theo Walcott but does United really need Ozil?

United’s issues at the moment isn’t creating chances but rather finishing them with the squad relying on Zlatan Ibrahimovic for goals along with needing to add more steel to their defence and midfield.

United have options in the No.10 position with Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and while Ozil can play out wide like he had done previously under Mourinho at Real Madrid but that doesn’t get the best out of Ozil and he wouldn’t perform out-wide as well as somebody like Martial would. Ozil also isn’t going to track back and defend and with Pogba already being incapable of doing this as well, it seems highly unlikely that Jose Mourinho will want two players in his team not doing defensive work,  that just isn’t him.

Next: Pogba doesn't measure up to Chelsea star

Time will tell if Ozil will leave Arsenal this summer but it seems unlikely that he will be joining United unless Mourinho is looking for a change in style, but if interest in Ozil is serious, it’d be an interesting buy for the club and would significantly weaken Arsenal as well. If Ozil is to join, it’d be likely that United would play him behind Ibrahimovic with Martial on one side and one of Mata or Mkhitaryan on the other wing which would be simply terrifying in attack.