Despite his class on the pitch, this season has been yet another in which Mesut Ozil has divided opinion at Arsenal.
Struggling to get into favour under Unai Emery, starting to flourish with Mikel Arteta but then having his lack of goal contributions highlighted have had fans wondering whether it’s best Ozil remains at the club.
As the summer draws closer this question will be posed to a number of players. Alexandre Lacazette seems to be getting the same speculation from fans but players whose contracts expire in 2021 may find this question more relevant to them. Bukayo Saka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz and Sokratis sit in this boat but so does Ozil.
Out of the six players who’d be entering the final year of their contracts in the summer, he is the one with the question marks around him. Both in terms of whether his presence on and off the pitch is powerful enough to propel Arsenal to where they want to be - the Champions League.
Looking plainly at football ability, of course Ozil’s influence should be enough to get Arsenal to the promised land. Unfortunately, that alone won’t be the deciding factor on whether the Gunners are getting the most they can out of the 31-year-old.
It must be said that Ozil does serve a purpose in Mikel Arteta’s current midfield. Playing as the No.10. he has two recognisable jobs other than simply creating, both related to the structure of the side.
In both instances, his positioning is key. His first role is to drive Arsenal forward through the centre of the pitch and supply the ball to the dangermen out wide. To do this, he usually drifts in between the line to receive the ball on the half-turn before bursting forward as analysed in depth here.
The other has looked to give Nicolas Pepe more support. As Arteta has been without a proper right-back to stretch defences, Ozil has had to perch himself on the right touchline to give his winger more space to operate in. This partnership hasn’t always worked properly however. A proper analysis of the dynamics between the pair is here.
He has also been more willing to defend from the front under Arteta but despite all this, there have still been areas of his game that have left fans wanting more - goal contributions.
Those aforementioned roles are key to breaking teams down but don’t result in goals scored or assisted stats. When it comes down to these, there is no doubting Ozil should be boasting much higher numbers. Two Premier League assists all season will not convince the entire Arsenal fanbase that he is indispensable in this side.
Joe Willock has already shown under Arteta that he could be an option in the No.10. role if needs be.
With his contract winding down, tangible impact on the side dwindling and not being able to escape father time, a resolution to Ozil’s time at Arsenal will be needed very soon, whether that be him staying or going.
“At the end of the day, the real essence of the problem was that we reached the last year of the contract,” Raul Sanllehi told Arsenal’s official YouTube channel when asked about Aaron Ramsey’s free transfer to Juventus.
“One of our priorities is not to enter the last year of contract and this (Ramsey’s situation) is the reason why. The only way you get to the end of the contract is when you’re ready to release that player at the end.
“If you really want to keep that player you need to renew him before getting to the last year of contract because you’re putting yourself in a very weak position - we cannot get to the last year of contract and if we cannot get a renewal before that then we may have to sell.”
So which will it be for Ozil? Will his contract be renewed, will he be sold or will he be released?
No matter which way you look at it, Arsenal are already in a weak position when it comes to dealing with this situation. Ozil’s £350,000 per week contract won’t only make it incredibly difficult for teams to lure him away but it’ll also make a renewal harder to negotiate on the Gunners’ terms.
If neither can be done then the possibility of the 31-year-old leaving on a free becomes very real and will ensure Arsenal continue to suffer for the mistakes they made continuously through the 2010s, culminating in Ozil’s disproportionate contract extension in 2018 and Ramsey’s departure a year later.
As shifting Ozil this summer would be an almighty task for the club’s hierarchy, the best option may be to delay his exit. Rather than settle for a release in 2021 from the jump, to grease the wheels of a sale, why not try to give him a short extension with a slight wage reduction.
This will sound like a ludicrous idea, no doubt, but what else could Arsenal offer? Alongside this, nobody - not even Ozil himself - would be able to argue that he is worth as much as he was when he signed that contract extension in 2018. Not just because of his performances but also due to the fact he will be 32-years-old when his current deal ends.
This resolution is probably wishful thinking but when Arsenal broke their record transfer fee to sign him in 2013, who would have thought they wouldn’t get a tenth of that back when he left?
What happens with Aubameyang - whose contract also expires in 2021 - will take centre stage but won’t stop the timer for Arsenal to make their decisions on Ozil, Saka, Mustafi, Sokratis or Luiz.
In the case of at least three of those players, they must show some improvement in how they deal with contract situations or this may look like a cycle that’ll continue throughout the 2020s as they did during the 2010s.
