I don’t know lol I just don’t make those assumptions, ofc his agent wants to make him as much money as possible, but as an agent you only have average leverage if the player is happy and wants to stay, it’s not like he’ll call Sanchez in the middle of a dog bath and tell him to pack his bags cause they’re moving to China, Alexis hires him and not the other way around.
Point is I don’t see any reason to assume it is about wages, we haven’t sold a player in 3-4 years and we have more money than ever. It could be more or less finalised and a bunch of details is why it is dragging. Or Cech said, it could be about ambitions, I don’t know.
If it were more or less finalised, Wenger would say that and not what he is saying, which is (words to the effect) ‘I’m not talking about this for the time being, Sanchez still has 18 months, a lot can change in 18 months, let’s just see what happens’.
You reveal good news as soon as you can, you keep the less promising news hidden for as long as you can. My guess is that they’ve opened what will be lengthy tit-for-tat negotiations lasting months, whilst the agent plays for time. Not great news for Arsenal FC, but perfectly understandable for two players whose loyalty is only to themselves.
It might not be about wages but it’s fair to assume that it’s about something.
We’re renewing contracts left and right this season, yet these two still drag on when they should have been wrapped up first and there isn’t the feeling that a deal is close.
Until they renew they’re gone in 6 months in my mind. Smells like van Persie and Nasri all over again.
I wonder how long Koscielny’s latest contract extension took, given that he’s probably the only one other than Sanchez/Ozil who can go higher in the football food chain and thus hold us over a barrel in case Bayern + co. come calling. Think we’ve done pretty well to get him signed on again mid-season with seemingly the minimum of fuss.
You really think Wenger would announce things prematurely, he doesn’t even announce his own contract extension until it’s a year left ffs which might in turn be the actual reason Özil signing is dragging. Saying if x were true Wenger would say it leaves you worrying over things for the wrong reasons I think. Especially since he himself doesn’t even do the negotiations. It will probably be a lengthy tit for tat, agents are always firework cunts, they might end up leaving (though I think the chance is small) but I don’t see anything indicating it’s because of wages.
We still got Wilshere, Ox and Gibbs too who are up for renewal. I think they’re maybe just waiting it out a little to see where this season really goes and how Wenger himself will decide on his future after that. In that regard April/May sounds about right to me, but if not they’re not going to stay for longer than this summer.
We overpay the mediocre but penny pinch the high earners ,our wage bill is massive . The biggest waste was paying permacrocks top dollar but i since we never learn from past mistakes The BFG will probably get an extention at the 90k a week hes on now. 30 k on yaya for 4 years ,it allbuilds up. paying yoof plers silly money b4 they have proved their worth isnt funnny either and as for walcott hells bells .
Maybe (hopefully) Elneny and Perez were the unfortunate ones and had their wages severely restricted, with Ozil/Sanchez contracts on the horizon in mind. I say hopefully because it’s the more realistic relative approach to wages that we should have adopted a looooong time ago. Everyone knows Oxlade-Chamberlain is pretty much surplus to requirements here, his wages could go some way to funding it
I think Wenger’s seemingly relaxed nature about it is genuine: what can he really do at this point?
He knows (we believe) that they both want to stay, there’s nothing he can do to speed up the timescale. If their agents can drum up any interest from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Juventus, then we’re bang in trouble. If not, then we have a fantastic shot of keeping them here.
Yeah he can’t really do much at this point as we have had 3 years to build a proper title challenge with the both of them and thats now failed. All we can do is offer good contracts and hope those clubs you mention+ PSG don’t come in for them.
I can’t see Bayern or Juve. Neither do mega-wages and Bayern don’t do mega transfer fees. Both will be looking for 250-300k. That’s China, City and United territory because Real and Barce aren’t splashing those wages on players who aren’t top 6 in the world (meaning top6 of all players). Although maybe either would go for Ozil
Interesting list - can see the following scenario unfold:
Ozil sold or runs his contract out
Ox gets re-signed… it wouldn’t be Arsenal if we didn’t
Gibbs gets re-signed to short deal (see 2 above)
We need our perennial old midfielder on crutches and he is it - gets one year extension
Sanogo gone - sold for peanuts this summer or loaned out to run his contract out
Campbell gone, likely this summer (FFS I thought he was already gone)
Sanchez sold - not sure why, but my guts tells me it is going to end badly this summer
Wilshere gets re-signed - We are a glutton for punishment and we need to hit our quota of injured CM
Sneezy - comes back to take over the gig from Cech - ok, ok I don’t really believe that… he will be sold this summer
Mert - runs out his contract and moves to some German team to finish his career - they unveil a statue at Emirates but it is so tall that it overshadows all the other statues and they have to take it down
Jenko - sold this summer
Summary:
2018 and the following stay: Gibbs, Santi, Ox, Wilshere - the rest will be gone.
If Wenger leaves this summer by miracle maybe this changes somewhat.
