- Mesut Ozil set to leave Arsenal at end of the season with contract expiring
- Gunners still pushing to reach new agreement, as per report
- Alexis Sanchez in same position, but focus for now seems to be on Ozil
- READ MORE: Real Madrid ready to launch Arsenal swap deal in bid to seal Alexis Sanchez transfer, Arsene Wenger likely to accept
Arsenal look set to lose two crucial players next summer, but reports claim that they are ready to fight to avoid such a situation from playing out.
Both Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez will see their respective contracts expire at the end of the season, allowing them to move on for free.
Further, from January 1 onwards, they’ll be allowed to speak with foreign clubs to reach a pre-contract agreement, and so Arsenal are effectively on the verge of being in a very vulnerable position.
According to The Mirror, they are still desperate to reach a new agreement with Ozil, and are hopeful that further negotiations could lead to a breakthrough with the German international already having a contract worth £275,000-a-week on the table.
Whether that involves offering more money remains to be seen as the report seems to suggest that the expectation is that Sanchez will leave, and so efforts will be put into getting Ozil to stay, although it will take more than just throwing money at the issue to reach a desirable conclusion.
With Arsenal continuing to fall short in competing for major honours each season, as they’re now seemingly involved in a fight to make the top four every year, it’s not the level at which Ozil or Sanchez want to be operating at as they will undoubtedly have aspirations of winning major trophies.
In turn, Arsene Wenger will surely have to prove to them the ambition of the club moving forward, and that merely starts with qualifying for the Champions League.
Ozil can split opinion at times as while his creative qualities and assists can’t be argued with, as he’s racked up 50 assists in 129 Premier League games for Arsenal, his inconsistency, habit of going missing in some big games and ongoing criticism of his lack of defensive work have often led to him being in the firing line.
However, Arsenal arguably can’t afford to lose both him and Sanchez in the same window for nothing no less too, unless they have significant replacements lined up to fill the void, and so there may well be a desperate scramble between now and January to get a deal done as time is running out.