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Arsenal has had to suffer through some stinkers from Mesut Ozil lately, but the German could serve the greatest purpose of all off the pitch.
Arsenal has one big question on everyone’s mind. It isn’t “will they win the Champions League” or “will they win the Premier League?”. It also probably isn’t “will they win the FA Cup.” The question is will they somehow maintain the services of Mesut Ozil and/or, more importantly Alexis Sanchez.
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The two “Gunner superstars” seem to be headed in opposite directions in more ways than one. Not only on the pitch, where Alexis is proving to be head and shoulders more reliable than his German counterpart, but also in terms of their contract situation.
Whereas Alexis’s situation is hitting us with worse and worse updates, Mesut Ozil’s situation seems to be getting better. I can’t say that I am too terribly excited about that, but there is definitely something to be drawn from Ozil staying around.
That is, even if Ozil is struggling to be the hero on the pitch, maybe he can still be the hero off the pitch.
It has always felt like the two were tied to the same fate. If one left, they both left. If one stayed, they both stayed. They even seemed to hint at that and their growing partnership enforces it even more so.
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If that is the case, then Ozil’s growing likelihood of staying may work to push Alexis back into the ‘more likely to stay camp’.
If nothing else, you can bet that Ozil and Alexis are talking about where their futures lie and if Alexis is hearing that Ozil is leaning towards staying, then, in the end, if they both stay, we will have massive thanks to heap on Ozil.
Which is good, because right now, Ozil is down in the dumps and not too high in many Arsenal players books. His performances on the pitch have been abysmal lately and they’ve blown up Ozil’s previous claim that if he has one bad match in ten, he suffers too much criticism.
Well, if you have one good match in ten, you deserve it, and that is what we are working with now.
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All of that can be forgiven though, if Ozil has a part to play in keeping hold of our Chilean. I will be beyond happy to welcome back Ozil to a long term deal if it comes with a long term deal for Alexis. There is no doubt about that.