Arsenal: Hardline Lee Dixon exposes current regime with 7 words

Of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, Lee Dixon stated: “We’d have just shown them the door.” In just seven words, he exposes the mess that is the current Arsenal regime.

As they are increasingly pampered and protected, players become more and more difficult to manage. They expect more; they give less. That, unfortunately, is the product of the environment that they are in. They are engulfed with praise and adoration. They are paid inordinate amounts of money. They are exalted like gods.

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As a result, clubs must adapt. It is, after all, them who have cultivated such a toxic atmosphere. Arsenal, though, have not adapted. They are too soft when they need to be hard; they are too hard when they need to be soft. And in just seven words, Lee Dixon, a former Arsenal player, exposed the mismanagement of the current squad, and, in particular, the soon-to-be-expiring contracts of the two star players: Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.

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Of the duo, who appear uncommitted to the club, disinterested when on the pitch, and dreaming of what will be once they leave, whether that be in January or at the end of the season, Dixon stated: ‘We’d have just shown the door.’ He did expand on that line, but that, for me, was the damning indictment that hit the nail on the head. Here is the rest of what he had to say:

"“We’d have just shown them the door. ‘If you don’t want to play, then go.’ <…> If a player doesn’t want to stay somewhere, yes, agents and players manipulate situations — and clubs do, in order to get the best deal for the parties concerned — but in general, if you don’t want to go there, and you don’t want to stay, then you will be ousted from the environment and dressing room pretty quickly.”"

Dixon is, rightly, although without actually naming him, challenging the management of Arsene Wenger. At the AGM, just two weeks prior, Ivan Gazidis said that, while Wenger has a team of experts and advisors that help him, the ultimate decision on every aspect of the team is his and his alone. That means, then, that it was Wenger’s decision to keep both Sanchez and Ozil, a decision that Dixon clearly disagrees with. And he is right to.

Keeping players who do not want to stay very rarely goes well, as Wenger has experienced before. He sold the likes of Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas because he realised that they no longer wanted to stay. And yet, this time around, he did the opposite. Perhaps he believed that Sanchez and Ozil did still want to stay. Perhaps he convinced himself to believe that because he realised the squad could not cope with their departures. Perhaps he was just wrong.

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But it is clear that the mediocrity that Arsenal have slipped into is, in large part, due to the mismanagement of players and their contracts. This is just the headline example. Dixon, in seven words, exposed those mistakes. Whether they can be rectified or not, only time will tell.