Contract rebels show their worth but future is still far from certain
IF there was ever a day to prove you’re worth £15.6million a year, this was it. The FA Cup final. Wembley. Stand up. Be counted.
That would have been Arsene Wenger’s message to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil at around 5.15pm yesterday.
We know the story by now. Arsenal want them to sign new contracts but they haven’t — yet.
They both want £300,000 a week. Arsenal, thus far, have fallen short of that figure. Make-or-break talks will take place in the coming weeks. As it stands, the expectancy is that Ozil will sign while Sanchez’s future is far more uncertain.
Arsenal’s latest contract offer to the Chilean has come in at around £270,000 per week but the deal is loaded with incentives and bonuses to push the figure closer to the amount he wants.
The advice to Arsenal: pay him what he wants. Whatever it takes to keep their man for every occasion. He can do it on a rainy night in Stoke. He can do it bathed in sunshine at Wembley — his goal yesterday merely underlining the point and capping an excellent performance against the Premier League champions.
It’s not just his quality on the ball. It’s his attitude, his work-rate — that fighting spirit that seemingly comes naturally.
Arsenal need more like him. More pertinently, they need to keep the one they’ve already got. Money isn’t everything, of course. The fact Arsenal aren’t playing in the Champions League next season will have a bearing on Sanchez’s decision.
He’ll also want to see a stark improvement in the squad if he is to stay. Sanchez is a winner; he wants more winners around him.
The problem Arsenal have is that Bayern Munich and Juventus are perennial winners.
Both clubs would take him in a heartbeat. Both are in the Champions League. The argument to pay Ozil £300,000-a-week is
less convincing. The big criticism of the German is that he’s found wanting on the big occasion — an incredible assertion considering he’s won the World Cup.
Indeed, those digs irk Ozil, So what better time than yesterday to at least start to dispel the myth?
And this time, the former Real Madrid man didn’t go into his shell.
An effort cleared off the line, a wicked corner that Danny Welbeck headed on to the bar and even a sliding tackle on Eden Hazard at the end of the first half.
Where has this Ozil been during the second half of the season? It’ll take more than this admittedly fine display to persuade Arsenal to loosen their purse strings for Ozil.
The club believe they are in a position of strength in persuading Ozil to sign a new deal for a price they are willing to pay.
There isn’t the clamour for him that there is for Sanchez; the view that he’s a luxury player not been helped by his lacklustre end to the season.
But on his day, he’s a match-winner. Wenger knows that. At the turn of the year, the PR vision was to announce Wenger’s, Ozil’s and Sanchez’s contract simultaneously.
What a photograph that would have been. Given their individual circumstances, that snapshot is a long way from being captured.
From the three, keeping Sanchez at the Emirates Stadium should be the club’s priority. He was all smiles at the end yesterday evening.
Unfortunately, though, the Chilean looks the least likely to stay.