It took until deadline day, but the seemingly hollow rumblings of ditherer and ditherdum, Arsene Wenger and CEO Ivan Gazidis, finally appear to have come to a very surprising and unexpected end. After Gareth Bale's imminent move to Madrid, incumbent playmaker Mesut Ozil, Real's German, bug-eyed, superstar midfielder, has reportedly agreed to terms on a five-year deal worth roughly 6 million British pounds per season. Arsenal have had to smash their porcelin bank to pieces for the deal though, forking out a club-record 42 million pounds. (source) This would make Ozil not only Arsenal's top transfer fee ever, (by a long way, previous: Jose Antonio Reyes, 2003, at a meager 17 million pounds) but would also make Ozil the most expensive German ever, beating out Mario Gotze, who cost Bayern Munich 37 million pounds earlier this summer.
Yes, after being linked with half the planet over the course of three months, and finding nothing but heartbreak from their prior ventures, we should all be relieved to see that Arsenal seem to have finally managed to sleep with a prospective mate without wetting the bed. It seems our stubborn little club really is growing up after all, even if the prospect it has chosen is a tad ugly. But while those eyes... THOSE EYES....... whoops, sorry... While those eyes do nothing for Ozil in an aesthetic sense, I assume they provide the midfielder with loads of vision to pick out a killer pass, which he does with frightening regularity.
After the two-week international break-honeymoon period is over, however, Arsene Wenger might wake up with a start and realize exactly what he's bought: another central midfielder. Considering Arsenal already have Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky, Mathieu Flamini, and the injured Mikel Arteta fighting for minutes, adding another, bug-eyed face to the mix might just create a fit of jealousy in the sorority over the fact that the new girl gets all the minutes she wants. And Ozil is so good, she really ought to get all the minutes she wants.
Sure, he has the ability, like Cazorla, to play in a wide role. This only does any good for the next few months though, as Walcott sure as sugar isn't going anywhere and Oxlade-Chamberlain will certainly expect his place on the left when he returns in October or November. Assembling this many skilled midfielders only works if you want to try your hand at a Barcelona and attempt to resuscitate the tiki-taka. Having done his job in covering while Ramsey comes of age, the only plausible solution on the horizon would be to toss Arteta to the scrap heap in January, in rather Pires-like fashion.
Ignored among all of the glitter and ribbons is the fact that Arsenal still have only two recognized center backs, and only two recognized strikers (with a loan move pending for Chelsea FC's Demba Ba) while the viable replacements are recovering from injuries. Given the Arsenal curse surrounding injuries recently, it seems only a matter of time before one of the two springs up and nips Arsene Wenger in the ass.
But Wenger has said we would move for true quality in the window, if not necessarily practical quality, and there we cannot fault him. Ozil is an absolute world-class player who, were this deal to completely go through, would serve to strengthen our ambition for titles considerably and allow the bench to be shored up a tad in the process. Welcome to Arsenal, I say.
May the Ozil be with you.
Break a knee Van Persie,
Thomas
No comments:
Post a Comment