Reports are claiming that three Arsenal players are ready to be offloaded by the board. Let us take a look at the way each of their moves will impact Arsenal.
Jack Wilshere
Jack Wilshere’s career has been a story of injury impeding football. When Wilshere first broke into the scene and made his debut at the age of 16, Arsenal’s youngest ever debutant, people talked about the arrival of the next great English potential.
His movement, vision, passing and combination play, as well as his leadership on the pitch and the supernatural ability to turn games on its head with moments of magic make Wilshere the master of the midfield, for any club on his day. However, his career has so far been nothing short of frustrating for the fans, the club and the player himself with injuries have a constant say in his progress.
With Wilshere in the last year of his contract, Arsenal may lose him next year on a free transfer or for a decent sum of money in January. Either way, his story at Arsenal will remain as what could have been and having never established himself as a regular in the side, the certainly wont be the biggest player missing from the Emirates dressing room.
Mesut Ozil
Manchester United’s boss Jose Mourinho is keen to reunite with Mesut Ozil next year.
Ozil’s current deal expires at the end of this season and any talk for his contract extension has become stagnant. This sets up an ideal opportunity for the Portuguese manager to lure away Ozil to Manchester United.
The two have previously worked together at Real Madrid where Mourinho showed great trust in the German playmaker. Ozil was the chief ball player behind the ‘shadow’ team of Madrid in the 2011-12 season who won matches by producing lightning-fast counter-attacks.
The two have parted ways since but have remained on good terms and as long as Ozil does not sign an extension with the Gunners, Mourinho will definitely be keeping an eye out on the situation at the Emirates.
Ozil moved to Arsenal in the summer of 2013 for a reported fee of £42.5m. In his four years at the club, Ozil has 32 goals and 57 assists in 166 appearances.
Although he has been accused by fans and media of going missing in big matches, he still remains one of Arsenal’s primary playmakers and it remains to be seen how Arsenal cope without him should he make the move in January as is being planned by the Arsenal board.
Alexis Sanchez
The Alexis Sanchez drama has taken another twist. It is no secret that Arsenal have failed to tie down their prized asset to a new contract and Sanchez come the end of this 2017-18 season will have come to the end of his contract and will be free to move on to any club of his choice as a free agent. Despite the fear of losing such an asset on a free transfer, in a surprising turn of events, Wenger has chosen to not move the player on but to keep him for another season to help Arsenal win silverware. However, reports are now claiming the club is ready to minimize their loss on the player and move him on to make funds available.
A host of top European clubs have been linked with the Chilean winger whose impressive form has made him a top target for them. The likes of Manchester City and Chelsea have all been linked to him at one point or another during the summer. Sanchez was reportedly close to a deadline day move to domestic rivals Manchester City before Arsenal made a U-turn on the deal and chose to keep him instead.
Sanchez will definitely be the biggest personality missing from the Arsenal pitch and it would be near impossible to replace him in January for Arsene Wenger.
