Arsenal poised to overpay next wave of contract rebels
Arsenal face a trio of tricky contract renewals
Arsene Wenger is coming to grips with the reality that both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil may leave Arsenal for free this summer. The French gaffer is determined not to let anymore talent leave in the same manner. That means Wenger is keen to hand new deals to Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey.
All three Gunner stars possess contracts that expire at the end of the 2018-19 campaign. Arsenal are determined to make sure they don’t enter the last year of their current contracts without signing extensions. That means officials in North London are working feverishly to tie the three players down with new deals as we speak.
On one level, this is a sound policy. Arsenal are learning from the painful mistakes of allowing Ozil and Alexis to enter the last year of their contracts without securing them for the long haul. Wenger, understandably, doesn’t want to go through this sort of contract hell again.
The problem for Arsenal is that Ozil and Alexis are far better players than any of the trio the club are negotiating with currently. Walcott, Welbeck and Ramsey have all experienced excellent moments for Wenger, but their respective inconsistencies have been maddening for the club.
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That makes assigning fair market value for their next contracts nearly impossible. Should Arsenal pay Welbeck on the assumption that he’ll be largely healthy during his next deal? That would be an awfully risky assumption for the Gunners.
Similarly, establishing Walcott’s value is going to be a frightful endeavor. On his day, he can terrorize Premier League defenders with his lightning pace. Unfortunately, the Gunners don’t see this version of Walcott very often. Frequently he floats through matches without making any sort of meaningful impact. Wenger must decide whether or not he thinks he can improve Walcott over the next few seasons.
Ramsey has the strongest track record of the trio, but he suffered an injury of his own in recent years. He only managed 23 Premier League appearances last season and his results were quite mixed. A Whoscored.com player rating of 6.72 in those appearances is the mark of a decidedly average Premier League midfielder. At his best, he’s capable of much more, but can his body support stardom moving forward?
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Add the circumstances surrounding these three players up and you have a mountain of uncertainty for Arsene Wenger. That, combined with his desperation to avoid what’s happened with Ozil and Alexis makes Arsenal a prime candidate to overpay all three players to show they’ve learned from their past mistakes. The representatives for all three players are salivating over their clients’ good fortunes.