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| Oscar sealing a £52m deal, worth a reported £400k a week |
It appears that China has become the latest financial
superpower in the world of football, and it’s a plague that shows no signs of
slowing down any time soon. What sets them apart from financial muscle that
preceded it is that they are taking players in their primes/still have a lot to
offer and placing them in a dire standard of football – a la Ramires, Jackson
Martinez, Graziano Pelle, Carlos Tevez and, most recently, Oscar. The MLS
provides a retirement haven for footballers nearing the end of their career,
and the top Russian teams can at least offer Champions League/Europa League football.
China just has more money than they know what to do with, and it’s a shame to
see a player such as Oscar, a 25 year old with almost 50 Brazil caps, looking
like a mercenary for taking a huge pay day this early in his career.
But this isn’t about China. Well not directly.
Much has been made of Arsenal’s contract negotiations with
top stars Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. Sanchez’s case proves particularly
interesting. The Chilean is allegedly using offers from China to leverage the
North Londoners for more money, and that speaks volumes- Arsenal’s best player
isn’t using offers from top European clubs as a bargaining chip, but rather a
continent with more money than sense, who offers less competitive football than
League 2. To me, this is a confirmation of what has been going on for many
years – Arsenal are no longer an ‘elite’ European club. Their best asset doesn’t
even have to threaten a move to a decent team in order to get Arsenal to bend
to his will. This isn’t the first time a top priority has done such a thing in
contract negotiations; Steven Gerrard threatened to move to Chelsea back in the
day, Wayne Rooney flirted with the likes of Man City and Chelsea when he first
attempted to leave the club, even Sergio Ramos played Manchester United like a
violin last summer to get a new contract at the Bernebeu. Alexis Sanchez is
using China in order to achieve the same thing – one of these things is not
like the others. A satisfaction with a top four finish/FA Cups/finishing above
Tottenham has seen Arsenal slip from the upper echelon of European football, to
a point where Sanchez doesn’t even have to try that hard to get them to do what
he wants.
That being said, Arsenal should do everything in their power
to keep him. Wenger seems dead set against buying a top class striker, settling
instead for Giroud’s 12-15 goals a season, Danny Welbeck’s annual two month
return from injury, and praying to all the God’s that Yaya Sanogo comes good
one day. Oh and Lucas Perez – he’s there too. Sanchez is a genuine world class
player, in a position where Arsenal are lacking. Mesut Ozil on the other hand?
Maybe that’s a different story.
There is absolutely no doubting Mesut Ozil’s quality. The man
is one of the best number ten’s on the planet when he wants to be. Unfortunately,
that’s the operative phrase – when he wants to be. Ozil was a complete non-entity
during Arsenal’s last match against Manchester City, and that was not the first
match that the German has gone missing in. Look at last season: Ozil racked up
18 assists before, and ended on 19. Where was he in the second half of the
season? Imagine if such a drop in performances is repeated this season. Can
Arsenal afford to carry on building around a player who clearly hasn’t adapted
well to not having a winter break?
It’s not like Arsenal are lacking in that position. Aaron
Ramsey, a fit Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere are all
more than capable of filling an Ozil shaped void. None of them quite have Ozil’s
quality, but all are more than qualified to suit an Arsenal style of play, and
have a more consistent work rate to boot. Also, it’s Arsenal – they will sign
an attacking midfielder regardless of whether they need one or not, hence the
googly eyes they’ve been making at Julian Draxler for the last 18 months. Ozil
should definitely be offered a new contract by the club, but he hasn’t yet
fully earned the right to hold them to ransom. If he doesn't like it, find someone else who does. There would be life after Ozil,
and the Arsenal Fan TV that would follow his departure would surely be Oscar
worthy.
A world class number
10 isn’t as vital for Arsenal as a world class goalkeeper, centre half or
striker, so if they had to choose between keeping Sanchez or Ozil, then the
Chilean would have to be a priority.
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