Mesut Özil: Time to Move Ön?

[Beksl]

I don't care if he leaves, we have Welbeck!

 

[coolaa]

It does not matter how talented Özil is, if the team plays better without him, then drop him or sell him. End of story.

 

[Rain Dance]

Exactly.

We'll survive without him but all in all he's been a decent asset over the last four years.

the big question is : Who will take over his mantle? Jack, Ramsey or Iwobi?

 

[krengon]

If that's true, good riddance... Minimum you should expect of a player is to give his best while he's under contract here. At least Sanchez is playing and contributing for us even though he was desperate to leave in the summer and will leave soon, I can respect that..

 

[Windowlicker]

I dont care if Özil goes, in fact I dont care about any departure I just want - like all fans should - Wenger out so we can start over with the good things he left behind

 

[blaze_of_glory]

One of the reasons we manage to deal with departures, is that we bring in more big players (eventually, at least). Cesc and RVP left, and were semi-quickly replaced by Özil, then Alexis. I for one am not that confident that their replacements will be of the same quality as the four.

We also brought in Cazorla as a Cesc "replacement" after one season, which was big. But we did well enough with Arteta and Ramsey filling in before Santi joined, and three full seasons between Cesc leaving and having Özil and Alexis both in the team, and we didn't suffer much at all.

I see no reason why we won't be able to bring in players who can be just as valuable now. We should be in a better position financially than we were in 2011 when Cesc left.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

We also brought in Cazorla as a Cesc "replacement" after one season, which was big. But we did well enough with Arteta and Ramsey filling in before Santi joined, and three full seasons between Cesc leaving and having Özil and Alexis both in the team, and we didn't suffer much at all.

I see no reason why we won't be able to bring in players who can be just as valuable now. We should be in a better position financially than we were in 2011 when Cesc left.

I guess we’ll see, both in terms of performance sans WC players and WC player recruitment. I’m just not that optimistic that, in today’s market, if a ~25 year old Özil/Alexis came on the market (even if he was similarly looking for a step down from a superclub) today, we’d be competitive. Not a perfect parallel, but say Bale were a touch younger, or Kovacic were better, and either wanted to leave RM. I just think there are too many teams ahead of us in the queue, in my opinion. And forget about us beating the superclubs to the signature of someone like Griezmann or Goretzka — Lemar didn’t even want to leave Monaco for us!

And in terms of coping with departures, the league was kind of down in the post-Cesc, pre Alexis era. Not sure I love our chances to rebound today as much.

Would love to be proven wrong on both, of course.

 

[samshere]

Lemar didn’t even want to leave Monaco for us!

Lemar didn't want to leave because of the slapdash, last minute nature of our move. When we were in for him at the beginning of the window, he was happy enough to move. We can attract players of Lemar's calibre no problem. Hell, even Mbappe gave us a serious thought(for all of a seconds time).

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

Lemar didn't want to leave because of the slapdash, last minute nature of our move. When we were in for him at the beginning of the window, he was happy enough to move. We can attract players of Lemar's calibre no problem. Hell, even Mbappe gave us a serious thought(for all of a seconds time).

Regardless of which 'Transfer ITK's" narratives you choose to believe, the fact still remains that neither is Mbappe (who I seriously doubt gave us any thought -- why would he, when PSG and reportably RM were both interested) nor Lemar are playing for us. Until proven otherwise, we can't really consider ourselves a destination for the top talents, and I seriously doubt things will get any better after our best two players leave.

 

[OSBK]

Good for him for being involved in a German WC winning squad... On the domestic front, we've also failed to mount a serious challenge in the league and performed as badly in the CL as we ever have, culminating in us falling out the top for the first time in 20 years.

Lack of challenging for the league is not a recent thing and was here well before Özil.

I like to see silverware of any kind, sure the prem or champs league would be great but Özil is not stopping us winning those trophies.

 

[samshere]

Regardless of which 'Transfer ITK's" narratives you choose to believe, the fact remains that neither is still Mbappe (who I seriously doubt gave us any thought -- why would he, when PSG and reportably RM were both interested) nor Lemar are playing for us. Until proven otherwise, we can't really consider ourselves a destination for the top talents, and I seriously doubt things will get any better after our best two players leave.

I don't trust itks, my conclusions are derived from actual quotes.
Mbappe:"Yes, I met with Arsène Wenger, who is a great coach. He has a great reputation here in France, he's well-respected and knows how to develop young players. This was a real option for me. But, of course, Paris St Germain was the main option."
IMO he did give us a think, however fleeting the thought might've been.
Lemar: "Yes, we bid €100m for Lemar but the player wanted to stay in Monaco," Wenger said in an interview with Telefoot."Yes, we'll come back in for him".
It seems to me that Lemar elected to stay at Monaco because he wanted stability in a world cup year, and a last minute move to a new league without a preseason wont be the best option for him. Wenger looks confident that he can get him, and there were reports of us bidding for him earlier. Don't think we'd have bid without the players consent. Arsenal is a step up from Monaco, and we should still be able to attract players just below the elite bracket.

 

[bingobob]

Lack of challenging for the league is not a recent thing and was here well before Özil.

I like to see silverware of any kind, sure the prem or champs league would be great but Özil is not stopping us winning those trophies.

He isn't really helping us either. Which was what he was bought to do.

As a side note I'm fairly sure in two of the last three seasons Fabregas has had more assists in the league including one where he rarely started and Chelsea won the league in two of those three seasons.

Özil hasn't hit any of the expectations his signing promised. Stepping up a level, competing with the top clubs, progression in Europe, high standards of football etc. We've gone backwards on and off the pitch during his time with the club.

 

[tap-in]

I have no concerns at all about Özil leaving, in fact I'd rather he go in Jan than stay all season. The only thing that would change my mind would be for him to sign a new deal and play his best football, I don't see either of these happening so I'd rather keep Iwobi in his position and maybe Wilshere at some point, although I'm quite happy with Jack playing a key role in the EL for now.

Rumours we have bid £16m for a young Turkish player.

 

[say yes]

Premier league article on De Bruyne’s assisting output:

Assist machine De Bruyne leading the way:
http://www.premierleague.com/news/488457

Not a criticism as Özil is still 3rd (and very close to 2nd) all time but it’s interesting how far ahead of Özil he has gone.

 

[Tywin]

Özil was an opportunistic signing. Madrid wanted to balance their books and Wenger was desperate to make a big name signing after ****ing up the Higuain and Suarez transfers. Wenger is the wrong manager for Özil and he’s wrong for our style of play.

 

[A_G]

As a side note I'm fairly sure in two of the last three seasons Fabregas has had more assists in the league including one where he rarely started and Chelsea won the league in two of those three seasons.

In 14/15 Fabregas had more assists (Özil missed nearly four months), in 15/16 Özil and last season Fabregas had 2 more assists than Özil. But that's not difficult to pull off considering the difference between the two sides last season, a settled midfield/attack at Chelsea v Özil playing some quasi-striker role early on in the season.

Özil hasn't hit any of the expectations his signing promised. Stepping up a level, competing with the top clubs, progression in Europe, high standards of football etc. We've gone backwards on and off the pitch during his time with the club

And that's all down to Özil? Some people in this thread are so intellectually dishonest when it comes to discussing his time at the club.

13/14: he he had a great start to the season, dipped in January after not having a winter break for the first time and then his confidence was on the floor after missing the penalty against Bayern. Got injured for a while then had a reasonable end to the season

14/15: came back after the WC not fully fit and got a long-term injury at the beginning of October. Showed some good signs after coming back and capped it off with a good performance in the cup final

15/16: his best season

16/17 was the first year he really underperformed and even then he had a statistical season the likes of Coutinho would kill for. Wenger should have done more to put a team around Özil/Alexis, but he perpetually left the team short much the same way he did when Fabregas/RVP were around. In those days he refused to address the GK/CB situation when the front 6 was strong, a few years later he had the Per/Kos partnership that thrived and signed Cech later on but he neglected CM/CF for too long.

 

[Jury]

He's the poster boy of our failure to challenge in the major tournaments. Not that it's his doing, as much as Wenger casting him in the role that has made him that.

It needs to stop, he needs to go, and we need to move on asap. Nearly there.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Özil is poster boy of us winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years. Such a brilliant signing in our darkest times the team have gone through. If we manage to push on in future we will look back at those 3 FA Cups as the kick start for our success!

 

[Arsenal1508]

Özil is poster boy of us winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years. Such a brilliant signing in our darkest times the team have gone through. If we manage to push on in future we will look back at those 3 FA Cups as the kick start for our success!

Lol.

Are you an Arsenal supporter again...you said "we." The legend of Özil will continue with you on this forum. I thought you'd be moving on to be supporter of Özil's next club like ManU.

 

[samshere]

Özil is poster boy of us winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years. Such a brilliant signing in our darkest times the team have gone through. If we manage to push on in future we will look back at those 3 FA Cups as the kick start for our success!

Yeah, Özil did take us up a level. His first year was the closest we'd come to the title in a long time. A couple of cards falling our way could have seen us win more than the FA cups. I place the blame for our inability to create a team around him at Wengers door. If we'd spent 30m odd on laca 3 years ago we'd have been there. We'll miss him when he leaves.