Big decisions for players, coaches as EPL offseason rumour mill begins in earnest
>> LONDON: Few will be able to choreograph their farewells like Chelsea captain John Terry. Many players and managers in the English Premier League are in for messier departures in the close season.
Nowhere in the league is there more uncertainty than at Arsenal, a club at a crossroads and out of the Champions League for the first time in two decades.
So much intrigue surrounds the fate of Arsene Wenger because the manager’s contract is expiring without confirmation on whether he will remain for a 22nd season.
Months of ambiguity created a “psychological environment’’ that Wenger acknowledged was “absolutely horrendous’’ for his players.
Players like Mesut Oezil and Alexis Sanchez are entering the last years of their contracts.
Their importance can’t be understated. In the league alone, Sanchez scored 24 and provided 10 assists, while Oezil contributed eight goals and nine assists.
If the forwards won’t extend their terms, Arsenal are in a quandary: Cash in now or allow them to leave for nothing after one final season?
Financially, Arsenal should remain an attractive proposition for them, especially with fattened pay packets. But the team looks further than ever from ending its 13-year title drought after finishing fifth, the lowest in Wenger’s reign.
And Oezil and Sanchez will be armchair viewers rather than competing among the European elite next season.
Without the lure of Champions League, replacing Oezil and/or Sanchez would be even tougher. Especially when Premier League rivals will be in the market for prolific scorers like Sanchez.
Across London at Chelsea last Sunday, the only formal send-off was for Terry, whose 22-year association with the newly crowned champion ended with a mid-match guard of honour.
Diego Costa won’t be getting the same fanfare if he leaves in the summer transfer window. The Spain striker has been linked with a return to Atletico Madrid, having apparently grown unsettled since a financially lucrative offer came in from China in January.
Costa stayed, but the goals dried up. Just six were netted in the final 16 league fixtures. The previous 19 games yielded 14 goals. Chelsea still lifted the Premier League trophy for the second time in three seasons.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is looking to strengthen the squad to cope with the increased fixture demands as the team’s year-long Champions League exile ends.
A return to Stamford Bridge could be on the cards for Romelu Lukaku. Once considered the natural heir for Didier Drogba, the Belgium striker struggled for first-team opportunities and was shipped out on several loans before finally being sold to Everton in 2014.
With 25 goals for a seventh-place team in the last season, Lukaku dispelled any doubts about his scoring prowess that persisted for so long at Chelsea.
Lukaku, still only 24, will be a man in demand and he has already publicly questioned Everton’s ambition.
How Manchester United could benefit from the addition of Lukaku to the squad.
Even more so with Zlatan Ibrahimovic unlikely to be an option going forward. The 35-year-old Ibrahimovic delivered as a short-term option for Jose Mourinho, including scoring the goal that clinched the League Cup in February.
United wanted to keep the Swede for next season, but he wouldn’t commit and then sustained a serious knee injury and there’s no indication when he’ll return.
Another striker, Wayne Rooney, could also be on the way out of Old Trafford.
Antoine Griezmann is a striker being pursued by Mourinho ahead of his second season in charge of the club.
Despite their sixth-place league finish, at least United have Champions League football to offer after after winning the Europa League title on Wednesday.
At least Mourinho can be certain he’ll be in the United dugout next season.
Craig Shakespeare is hoping he has won his audition to keep the Leicester job on a permanent basis after halting the deposed champion’s slump in Claudio Ranieri’s second season.
But it is the decision Arsenal has to make that will shape the offseason in the Premier League: Whether to stick with Wenger or make a clean break. Time is running out.