Unai Emery is not afraid to make a splash, it seems.
The Spaniard has started life at Arsenal very well, but it seems waves may be about to made at the Emirates, with two major midfielders seemingly being put in the shop window by the club, and Emery.
It was only 12 months ago when Mesut Ozil signed a new deal at the club, and the fans were over the moon at a time where Alexis Sanchez decided to switch to Manchester. Now, Ozil’s £350,000 per week wages seem to be causing issues, especially with the German not delivering performances on the pitch, worthy of that pay grade.
With Emery keen for all his players to show intensity consistently, we’ve already seen that the manager is willing to keep Mesut out of the eleven if he doesn’t deliver that. Now, Ozil has been missing with a suspect ‘back’ injury for a number of games. This has led to much speculation, with the latest linking him with a move to Inter Milan. It is thought that Arsenal would be willing to accept as little as £25million for Ozil, as £350,000 off the wage bill would allow Emery some flexibility in the market.
Another player set to leave the club is Aaron Ramsey. Injuries and consistency have been Aaron’s problems of late and the Welshman has been told that the club will not offer him an extension to his current contract, which expires at the end of the season. Ramsey’s excessive wage demands were deemed to be too financially stretching for the club to meet.
Much has been made of Emery’s inability to recruit in his first summer. The signings the club did make seemed cheap, makeshift additions for the most part (Stephan Lichtsteiner – free, Sokratis – £15million). Managers of clubs of this calibre tend to command much more in the market in order to make their mark on the squad. Ozil and Ramsey’s departures may allow for Unai to do just that in January and the summer.