The tentative recovery of Arsenal in recent weeks may have dimmed the immediate dissent at the Emirates but the club’s still faces an uncertain future. Pre and post-match press conferences have been dominated for months by the contract situations of two of the club’s biggest figures. The futures of Arsene Wenger and Alexis Sanchez are increasingly met with resignation by Arsenal fans — that one will stay and the other will go.
The fate of a third, Mesut Özil, has fallen by the wayside. The subject of whether the German will stay or go is now greeted in some circles with the same indifference for which he has been criticised for. We’ve come a long way since Geraint Thomas led fans in a vigil outside the Emirates in September 2013, praying for the Özil’s arrival.
Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Manchester City, each of the Seven Kingdoms of China. All have been discussed as potential destinations for Alexis Sanchez. The best of Mesut Özil’s agent has managed to come up with is a homecoming to Fenerbahce in Turkey. The interest in the Chilean is understandable — he has recorded a double-double in goals and assists in each of his season’s in North London, can run for days, and plays all across the attacking line with a seemingly inexhaustible desire to win. Something of a contrast to the more languid talents of his German team-mate. Looking back on that list of teams at the start of paragraph, and indeed the teams involved at the quarter-final stages of the Champions League this season, seems to show there is limited need for a dedicated playmaker among the top teams in Europe.
A player on the pitch who exists solely to create chances for his team-mates. While there is an argument that a team can never have too many good players, the counter is that the sport has moved on from being able to support the more intangible contributions of Mesut Ozil. The truth is that at the highest echelons of European football, the table at which Ozil would want to be seated, there is no space for him. The game has increasingly become centred around physicality, pressing, and counter-attacking. The German has an eye for the last of three but will never excel at the others. Sadly few of the elite coaches are now willing to countenance a player who only plays hard in one direction.
At Arsenal he has found one of the few who is willing to indulge him — no wonder he’s Wenger In. If Ozil departs he may find that he follows in the footsteps of another former-Arsenal creator, Cesc Fabregas. No longer up to the pace demanded by Antonio Conte, he sits on the Chelsea bench like an aging safe-cracker, waiting to be called on when athleticism alone cannot crack the code and a lighter touch is required. While the market for athletic wing-forwards like Alexis Sanchez has grown the bubble has burst for the once-idolised number 10.
Even at Arsenal Özil no longer feels as necessary as he once did. His arrival was greeted as the start of a new era, one where Arsenal could now compete financially for the world’s stars. Alexis Sanchez followed the following summer fans are still waiting for the sustained assaults on the Premier League and Europe. Even as recently as December he was being lauded for his increased eye for goal, exemplified by his last minute winner against Ludogorets.
Five months on and he now seems like another spare part in Arsene Wenger’s disjointed squad. A collection of talented players acquired due to their availability rather than with a tactical concept in mind. Since his arrival from Real Madrid Özil has played behind the Arsenal’s almost-good-enough striker of choice in his every outing, almost without fail. His unwillingness to play anywhere else has limited a manager already loath to experiment. A latent move to imitate the en vogue 3–4–3 has improved results but not performances and a need for wholesale upheaval remains on and off the pitch.
If Özil is to remain it’s hard to see just how substantial change can be. If a contract is to be agreed it’s likely to be above the £200,000 threshold, a substantial portion of Arsenal’s wage bill, limiting investment in the squad. His insistence of playing centrally behind the striker restricts the tactical changes the manager, whoever that may be, can implement. To get the best out of Özil seems only to inhibit the rest of the team’s shape and approach. Shifting to a trio of central midfielders would offer the back three more protection and grant Xhaka some breathing space. Two strikers up front might unearth a partnership between Sanchez and Welbeck.
With the exception of a playing a diamond, these tactics are off the table with the German commanding centre stage. However, with the Özil’s destinations limited the German and the Gunners may find they are stuck with one another. An elegant orchestrator entering the final years of his prime: outshone by his hyperactive team-mate, undesired by the footballing aristocracy, overlooked by his own fans, and with silverware out of reach.
