Sanchez and Ozil would have been ‘shown the door’

LEE DIXON says that the Arsenal teams he played in would have “shown the door” to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in response to their refusal to commit to the club.

Concerns persist that the highest-profile players in Arsene Wenger’s squad will leave as free agents when their contracts expire at the end of the season.

Both continue to feature regularly despite the fact their futures have long been uncertain, and after reports Sanchez attempted to leave for Manchester City before the summer transfer window’s conclusion and that Ozil will eventually join Manchester United.

Dixon, 53, was influential in some of Arsenal’s finest teams under Wenger and George Graham, and for the latter when football was significantly different to what it has become.

He regardless does not believe that attitudes towards a player’s commitment should have changed, and he said: “We’d have just shown them the door. ‘If you don’t want to play, then go’. That’s not changed.

“If a player doesn’t want to play for you: it happened with Michael Thomas 18 months after he scored [the title-winning goal against Liverpool] in ‘89, he was in dispute with the club or George about money. He ended up going in similar circumstances and signing with Liverpool.

“It’s no different. If a player doesn’t want to stay somewhere, yes, agents and players manipulate situations – and clubs do, in order to get the best deal for the parties concerned – but in general, if you don’t want to go there, and you don’t want to stay, then you will be ousted from the environment and dressing room pretty quickly.”