Arsenal: 3 reasons Philippe Coutinho is just another Mesut Ozil

2. Commitment

While the wage structure that Ozil completely ruins (not his fault, it’s Wenger’s, but still…) is the biggest drawback to such signings, it’s also a major drawback that we’re essentially committing to years of Coutinho being the centerpiece given the obligatory purchase clause.

Ozil’s situation became even worse when Wenger left because Unai Emery did not jive with him and Mikel Arteta is only using him to try to milk some kind of value out of him, but it’s clear his value ran out years ago. He doesn’t create goals anymore, and that’s literally the only thing he was brought here to do.

But we also can’t sell him because his wage package is just too big.

Are we going to walk into the same level of commitment with Coutinho? What if he has one good year and then for three years we’re just begging him to have a better attitude on the pitch, to get back and defend, to do what we bought him for and create goals?

I’m not thrilled about the prospect of locking in to another luxury player. Speaking of which, No. 1.