Arsenal: Analysing the Mesut Ozil finances

Arsenal are looking to offload Mesut Ozil but may have to subsidise his £350,000-a-week wages to do so. Here, I look at their potential options.

It is quite clear that Arsenal would like to offload Mesut Ozil this summer. Unai Emery gave him a year to prove his mettle, and, with a wilting, depressing end in the Europa League final, Ozil was unable to do anything but illustrate his lack of commitment to adapt to Emery’s new style. Now, at 30 years old and £350,000-a-week, Emery wants to move on.

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But the very wages that Emery wants to get away from are a stumbling block. Who in their right mind would pay such egregious figures for a player of Ozil’s seeming apathy and absent production? Selling, consequently, is much easier said than done.

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One way or another, Arsenal are going to have to manufacture a sale in a different way to the normal structures of a modern-day transfer. Here, I analyse the financial virtues of different potential avenues to work out which might be the most fruitful.

The most obvious and likely way that Ozil leaves this summer is on a subsidised loan. There is not a big market for a permanent sale and a temporary move is what big clubs often use to rid of highly damaging wages like the German’s. In this case, Arsenal may have to pay half of Ozil’s wage. Over the course of a season, that would save £9.1 million, which is not to be baulked at whatsoever.

However, the problem with this move is that they are then stuck with the same conundrum next year. Perhaps a two-year loan might be more suitable, though this would come with the de facto consequence that Ozil walks away without a fee as his contract with Arsenal would expire.

A sale would be more ideal, then, but even if this circumstance, the Gunners would still have to subsidise his wages. If they were to pay half, let’s say, they would, like in the loan situation, save £9.1 million per year, £18.2 million over the course of his contract, as well as banking a transfer fee, which could be reinvested in other players.

This transfer fee would depend on the subsidies agreed upon. For instance, a buyer may be willing to pay Ozil’s full wage if they could sign him for nothing this summer. That would save £36.4 million over the course of two years but would not provide Unai Emery with any funds to invest in transfers this summer.

All in all, if Arsenal could secure a permanent deal, they should expect to save around £30-40 million over the course of two years, with that figure comprised in part by a reduced wage bill and in part by a transfer fee paid this summer. How that deal is apportioned will likely be determined by the buyers, they may want to pay a greater upfront cost to alleviate adding £350,000-a-week to their wage bill, for instance.

However it is structured, though, there is an opportunity for Arsenal to save some serious cash by ridding of Ozil. This is far from an ideal situation, of course, and any solution is full of compromises, but the money saved could be invaluable as Emery continues his rebuild.