Arsenal: Pulling the Mesut Ozil rabbit out of the hat

Arsene Wenger has stated that Arsenal are still working on a new contract with Mesut Ozil. They can’t pull the rabbit out of the hat at the last minute, can they?

As soon as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil saw their contracts run down to two years remaining in the summer of 2016, it was fairly inevitable where this would end up. And, indeed, it has ended up right where we all expected: Arsenal scrambling to retain and replace both.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast here

The former of those has already departed. Sanchez, in a straight swap with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is his somewhat panicked successor, is now a Manchester United player. But Ozil is still with the club. He has, surprisingly, looked different in his play in recent months. His body language is far more positive. There is a greater work ethic. He just looks like he cares more, oddly.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

And so, the rumours of a possible retention have begun to surface, with Arsene Wenger fielding questions about the German’s future in his press conference on Friday morning. When asked about whether a new deal was close to being agreed upon, Wenger admitted that talks are ongoing and that everything is still very much in the balance:

"“Not close enough to be optimistic and not far enough to be pessimistic. The vibes I get from him are commitment, his focus and his desire for achievement with the team is that he behaves like someone who is completely focused and committed and ready to commit but after that, contract negotiations are what they are. We are not close enough to tell you ‘Yes, he will do it.’ I don’t know.”"

This is certainly far from what was expected just six months ago. I, and many others, expected Ozil to leave in the summer, with Arsenal desperate to recoup the last dregs of value that they could for a player who could leave for nothing just a year into the future. But those expectations were refuted. And now, it seems as though Wenger may be able to go one step further.

Not only has he defied logic to keep Ozil at this club this long, but he may actually be able to rescue the very thing that he sacrificed for his rather misconstrued concept of motivation when allowing the contracts to run down: continuity.

If Ozil is contemplating a new deal from Arsenal, then that alone is a major win. I was resigned to losing him, at least at the end of the year, and almost saw it as a guarantee. A question of who to, not if it all.

Next: Arsenal: Mid-Season player rankings

But these latest developments suggest that the question of ‘if’ is one that is yet to be answered. That is very encouraging indeed. It means that Arsenal are not out of the Ozil race just yet. There’s still much work to be done and many variables to satisfy. But hope remains nevertheless. They couldn’t pull the rabbit out of the hat at the very last minute, could they?