It’s been extremely well documented that Arsenal have a trio of players who are out contract at the end of the season- Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has finally admitted that one of them, Sanchez, will not be extending his stay at the club.
Wenger still maintains hope that he can hold on to the other two however. With both Manchester clubs keen on Sanchez (Jose Mourinho kind of confirmed United’s interest yesterday), the Chilean could move this transfer window, instead of seeing out his deal until the summer.
“There is still an opportunity for (Mesut Ozil) to stay,” said Wenger at his weekly news conference.
“That’s very much open. It looks like Sanchez will not extend his contract. But we want to keep Jack, and we have an opportunity maybe to keep Ozil. So the rebuild will be less deep than if all three left.”
Wenger says there are two major factors that will decide whether or not they can get the other two players to renew their deals- earning money and winning trophies.
“It’s both, always. These guys want to win, and they want to make money as well. So they want a combination of the two, which big clubs can give them,” Wenger continued.
“Incidentally he won trophies with us. So he wants to fight as well for the Premiership. That’s normal when you’re at that level.”
Ozil has linked with a move to several big clubs, including Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Obviously, if Sanchez leaves in the summer, Arsenal will receive nothing in return, so it’s certainly in their best interest to sell him now. If a second member of the out of contract triad leaves, the Gunners will definitely have some rebuilding to do in the summer transfer window.
If all three move on, then the north London side will certainly have to add even more players in 2018.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.