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Arsene Wenger appears resigned to losing Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, saying Arsenal can survive departures
Arsene Wenger has admitted for the first time that his January strategy will be shaped by the contract stand-offs with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, as well as injuries, amid a defensive crisis ahead of Wednesday's Premier League match against Chelsea.
Arsenal are already without defenders Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac but also now captain Laurent Koscielny is only rated as a “30 per cent” chance for the game. Ozil remains a major doubt after missing Sunday’s 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion with a knee injury while Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey are longer-term absentees.
“We have a big squad but we cannot lose any more players now, because we are a bit short,” said Wenger.
Sanchez, Ozil and Jack Wilshere are now free to speak with clubs outside of England after entering the final six months of their contract and Wenger said that his decisions will be influenced by those situations.
“We are open in any position for the exceptional player who can give us a plus, therefore of course it depends a little bit on the injuries and, on the other hand, I must say it depends on who will manage to extend the contracts of the players who are on the end of their contracts in June,” he said.
“We will have to take the consequences of these decisions and respond to it. In our jobs sometimes one day you think you’ve made progress [on contracts] and the next day you move back again, so as long as something is not signed you don’t like to talk too much about it.”
Wenger said that he had received no offers for Sanchez or Ozil but appeared to prepare the ground for major departures at some stage in the coming months.
“We have not lost them yet and secondly we will respond to that by bringing in players of top quality,” he said. “My focus is on tomorrow’s game. After that, this club has lost many, many big players and has always responded well. Massive players have left this club and the club will always be in a strong position. You want to keep your best players.”