Arsenal need to set a deadline for Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to re-sign

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger continue to be led a merry dance by Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. The club need to set a deadline and take control of the pair’s contract disputes.

Arsenal are fighting to keep hold of their two best players with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil both having around 18 months left on their contracts. Everybody at the club wants the pair to stay, but is the feeling really reciprocated?

The two sagas have rumbled on all season long and currently show no sign of ending. To date, Arsene Wenger has been content to let the situation rumble on. And rumble on it has. And on and on and on and….

Who’s the puppeteer and who’s the puppets on a string here? Both players have publicly said that they would stay. But what a player says publicly and what he says privately can always be two totally different things.

Ozil recently said he would stay as long as he was assured Wenger would be staying too. Which is a problem in itself because the Arsenal boss also has has an expiring contract. A lack of clarity at the top is now filtering down.

Ideally, Arsenal do not want to wait until the summer to see if Sanchez and Ozil will decide to stay. At that point, both will be in the final year of their contracts and the club will either have to sell them cheaper than their market value or risk losing them for nothing.

How has it even come to this?

In one summer, your manager and your two best players could all potentially leave the club. What kind of message would that send? Arsenal have already backed themselves into a corner by waiting on these three contracts for so long.

They cannot wait anymore. The club need to take control of the Sanchez and Ozil sagas now, so they know where they stand and can plan the summer. If the duo don’t commit to re-signing early in the summer, then they have to go. They have to.

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There’s too much money involved to enter the last season of their contracts. Imagine Ozil in particular sauntering his way through next season, receiving a king’s ransom in wages from the club, to then leave the club on a free transfer.

It’s time Arsenal took control. If the players really want to stay, then they’ll give and take a little on their demands. But if they want every single thing in their favor, then you have to question just how much being at the club really means to them.

They are two amazing players. Clearly. But there are a lot of top players out there and Arsenal as a club have to back themselves in the market. Being tougher on somebody doesn’t mean you’re pushing them out. It just means you’re looking out for the club’s future. Either you’re in or you’re out.

The situation has already gone on way too long and if Arsenal allow it to idly drift on deep into the summer, the player’s power will only get bigger. So, too, the demands. The club may already be in a position of weakness, but time is also against the Gunners on this occasion.

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Which is why it is time for Arsenal to take control. The club need to set a deadline for the two sagas to be resolved. Because right now, the players are doing too much talking and too much demanding.

While the club are doing too much stalling and too much waiting.

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