Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil shows why he is right to want £300,000-a-week with match-winning display against Newcastle

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Whatever he might have lost over the last few years, Arsene Wenger still knows how to turn a phrase.

He was talking about Mesut Ozil on Saturday evening and the feeling he gets when the German takes possession.

‘Always your heart rate goes down when he has the ball,’ Wenger said. Eloquent and a different way of making the point.  

Mesut Ozil scores the winning goal against Newcastle at the Emirates on Saturday

The German celebrates after breaking the deadlock with a stunning volleyed goal

And in many ways so is Ozil — eloquent in his subtleties and a different way of getting the job done.

Sometimes they yell at him in these parts because he doesn’t go in for all the blood-and-thunder stuff that others do, and because he isn’t always so obvious in what he is contributing, but against Newcastle he pulled off the kind of goal that most others simply cannot. It wasn’t quite Zinedine Zidane at Hampden Park in 2002 but it was from the same drawer and not many players worldwide can reach it.

It is in those moments that the weekly wage he is requesting of £300,000 seems really quite reasonable; it is in those moments that it feels staggering Arsenal haven’t done everything possible to keep him.

Of course, the unknown in all this saga is whether Ozil has any intention of staying beyond the end of his contract next summer. If he doesn’t then the figures of what he wants don’t really matter. 

But Wenger is ‘confident’ he does and so the fact they have yet to make an offer that matches the request, hovering instead around the £275,000 mark, is mind-boggling. 

His performance made the weekly wage he is requesting of £300,000 seem quite reasonable

The pace of progress in this situation has been glacial and with Manchester United and Barcelona lurking, the iceberg is now straight ahead, because what would losing Ozil say about Arsenal? Just as his £42.5m signing in 2013 suggested the club was serious about being contenders again, losing Ozil would tell us the opposite. Same goes for Alexis Sanchez.

In Ozil’s case, the midfielder is now offering a sustained reminder of what exactly his club might well be losing. On Saturday, he was about more than the goal, because his wider performance was excellent, a surgeon’s clinic in the art of small and frequent incisions around the area

He created eight chances — only Kevin de Bruyne with nine for Manchester City against Southampton last month has created more in a Premier League game this season – and has scored two and made four more in his last six games at the Emirates. 

Combined with exceptional performances against Huddersfield and Tottenham in the past month, Wenger buys into the argument that the 29-year-old is currently showing his best form since joining. 

Manager Arsene Wenger is desperate to keep hold of the Germany international

When asked if this was Ozil’s best patch, Wenger said: ‘Yes. Certainly I think he takes responsibilities and that is what you want from him. He is mature, he guides the team.’

On why his goal proved Arsenal need to keep him, Wenger added: ‘Not only that but I would say more important is the quality and the influence he has on the collective game. You cannot score a goal like that every week but you can play like he plays usually every week so that is more important.’

And then the grey area, of whether Ozil needs to be convinced to stay. Except to Wenger it isn’t grey.

‘I believe he wants to stay,’ he said. ‘It is not to be convinced.’

Why, then, is such a talented player so close to exit? Why are they so close to losing the heartbeat of their team? Without him the pulse might disappear altogether.