Arsenal consider paying 25 times more to bring former £400,000 star back

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As things stand, Arsenal have a problem on their hands at the end of the season as they’ll lose both Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.

Both players will see their current contracts expire in the summer, and as of yet there has been no suggestion that a renewal will be imminent for either.

In turn, as the wait goes on with just seven months left to run on those deals, the club will surely have to start considering replacements sooner rather than later.

According to talkSPORT, via reports in Turkey, they’re planning on filling the Ozil shaped hole in their squad with a player familiar to Arsene Wenger in Oguzhan Ozyakup.

The 25-year-old was sold for £400,000 to Besiktas in 2012, where he has gone on to make 193 appearances and has contributed 27 goals and 43 assists.

Further, he’s won back-to-back Turkish Super Lig titles with the capital club, and he could be a quality addition to the Arsenal squad to play in a creative midfield role to replace what Ozil brings to the Gunners currently.

It’s claimed that it could take £10m to prise him away from Turkey, which would mean paying 25 times what Arsenal sold him for, although it’s worth noting that Ozyakup is also in the last year of his contract and so this would surely apply to a January swoop with a free transfer possible in the summer if no new deal is struck.

Ozil failed yet again to impress in a big game as Arsenal slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday, and there is a strong argument to suggest that the north London giants would be better off moving in a different direction from next season onwards as clearly this current set-up hasn’t resulted in success in the Premier League or in Europe.

In order to freshen things up, perhaps Wenger does have to look back to their past and take into consideration the big strides that Ozyakup has taken in his career since leaving, but time will tell if the pieces fall into place for him to secure a second chance at Arsenal, provided he wants one.

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