Arsenal Contract Woes

I have just read that Arsene Wenger has come out and said that if his Arsenal side don’t get top four, it won’t affect his key players’ decisions to leave the club in the Summer. Now I don’t know what the Frenchman’s been smoking but it must be making him as high as the expectation level of an average Arsenal supporter.

Will Sanchez and Ozil leave if Arsenal miss out on Champions League football?

To turn round and say this is like saying that his players don’t care about Champions League football, that they are playing at Arsenal because they love the club and are only interested in playing for the Gunners fans that pay to watch them week in week out...but if that was the case then surely Sanchez and Ozil would have already signed their contracts by now...

Missing out on the biggest tournament in club football can end contract talks in the blink of an eye. Missing out on top four can more or less double a player’s wage demands over night. If there was ever a time for Wenger to scrap his fancy style of play and begin grinding out wins, now is that time!

With only four games remaining for Arsenal, they have got to hope and pray that both of the Manchester teams slip up whilst the North London club gain maximum points. With a game in hand against already relegated Sunderland, it’s all to play for as Arsene Wenger looks to achieve a Champions League spot for the 21st consecutive season.

Now if they do achieve it then it would be a huge addition to an already amazing record but if they don’t then in my opinion they can kiss goodbye to any chance of retaining the services of Alexis Sanchez.

Without a doubt he's one of the best players in the league.

Alexis Sanchez has been by far Arsenal’s best player this season scoring a whopping 19 goals and assisting another 9 on top of that in the Premier League. On average he plays 2.2 key passes and completes 2.7 dribbles per game in the Premier League. Due to him having such an impressive season he’s turned a lot of heads his way, the biggest of course being Bayern Munich.

In my opinion the Chilean international is as good as Hazard and would be a top player in any side in world football...and he knows it. He know’s that he has been Arsenal’s best player this season and that he deserves Champions League football. So I predict that if Arsenal don’t get top four, Alexis Sanchez will be on the phone to his agent within seconds of the final result.

The other player that has had a lot of newspaper inches devoted to his contract negotiations is German international Mesut Ozil. The bug-eyed fuck has received a lot of criticism this year as he’s not quite lived up to how amazing he was in the 15/16 season. The german got 6 goals and 19 assists as well as averaging 4.2 key passes per game in the Premier League last term.

But sadly for him this season has only amassed 7 goals and 6 assists whilst playing a much lower 2.7 key passes per game (which is still a good stat to have by the way). Despite this drop in form the former Real Madrid man is still highly rated among the Emirates faithful who believe that successful contract negotiations with Mesut is must!

Would the likes of Pires and Bergkamp receive the same treatment as Ozil?

While I’m on the subject of Mesut Ozil receiving criticism, I think some of the negative comments said about the German are completely over the top. Fans have accused him of being lazy, workshy and that he goes missing in big games. For me all of these comments have been brought on due to Wenger not signing a holding midfielder in the Summer/January like everyone knew he should have done…

I know that a lot of football fans (myself included) thought that the Arsenal boss had really turned a corner when he began flashing the cash, spending big bucks on big name players instead of signing unheard of talents in the hope that he could mold them into big name players only for Man City to steal them a few years later. If there is anyone reading this who believes Wenger is doing this...I’m sorry to break it to you…

Wenger hasn’t made a big name signing since Alexis Sanchez and that was 3 years ago! He had his big chance last Summer when he tried to sign NGolo Kante. The French midfielder had just won the Premier League with Leicester before playing his part in getting his country to the final of the European Championships. £32 million for Kante was a bargain.

I read that Wenger had the cheek to imply that the midfield tank only went to Chelsea because they were offering him silly wages...they offered £110,000 a week. Now admittedly that is a lot of money but considering that Arsenal pay Aaron Ramsey £80,000 a week and Jack Wilshere £90,000 a week you have to seriously consider that Arsene is genuinely on drugs.

Do you agree that Arsenal missed a trick?

Contracts at Arsenal at quite poor anyway when you really look at them. They only ever seem to hand out 4/5 year contracts! That's all well and good if you want to keep young talent at the club but when you’re offering £90,000 a week for 5 years to a player who has never played in this league then questions should be asked.

Now I don’t mind Shkodran Mustafi but offering him £90,000 a week and a 5 year contract is a huge gamble. The same goes for Granit Xhaka, he’s not a dreadful player but in my opinion he’s not good enough for where Arsenal want to be. And how the fuck did Gabriel manage to swindle a 5 year contract? £50,000 a week?! not worth £5 a week…

That's not to say that Wenger gets it wrong every time. The contract given to Rob Holding is perfect example of how things should be done. Currently on a 5 year deal that sees him get paid £10,000 a week. If he impresses over the next few years then Wenger should offer him a pay rise to maybe £30K or £40K a week. It just makes sense.

Alex Iwobi is another example on how to build up wages based on ability. He’s on £30,000 a week which again is a lot of money considering he is a gamble but for a player who is only 21 and already making appearances in the Nigerian national team is a safer gamble than a centre back who’s never even played for the Brazil U21’s let alone the first team...I’m looking at you Gabriel.

Moving on I think Wenger needs to seriously reevaluate where he pays his wages. Begin by giving less to the flair players and more towards the ones who keep the engine ticking. He can start by selling that shit house Aaron Ramsey. Don’t get me wrong I used to really like Ramsey...I think I stopped liking him though on the day he discovered that bleaching your hair automatically makes you a world class footballer…

...oh it doesn’t? Since when? Oh it only makes you think you’re a world class footballer? That would explain why Ramsey looks like Messi but plays like Luke Chadwick. Someone should really tell him before the Arsenal fans begin to hate him...oh they already do?...bugger…

Like Andros Townsend, Ramsey seems to perform better for his country than his club.

The Welshman showed signs of his amazing ability in 2013 when he scored 15 goals by December before being hit with an injury. Since then he’s not quite been able to recreate this form for his club but seems to be able to play everyone off the park whenever he plays for his country. For me if he want’s to make the Welsh proud Arsenal might as well just sell him back to Cardiff.

The other lad they need to let go is Jack Wilshere. I think too many Arsenal fans have gotten attached to this gremlin because he “hates Tottenham” and he’s “got potential”. Well he’s had that potential for about 8 years now, shit or get off the pot Jack. To add to this he’s constantly injured and can’t even perform for Bournemouth... how’s he supposed to take Arsenal forward if he’s dragging the Cherries backwards.

If the Gunners got rid of those two they’d be saving £170,000 a week. A WEEK! And Wenger said he couldn’t afford £110,000.

In all honesty though the last thing I want to do is blame Wenger for all of this. His “flair over efficiency” plan doesn’t help but the board are very far from squeaky clean. I just can’t wait for the Frenchman to bring out his autobiography...I imagine we’ll all get some answers then.

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Cheers for reading.