Former Arsenal player Charlie Nicholas has urged the club to get rid of Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi this summer, according to reports in Sky Sports.
Ozil was Arsene Wenger’s first real big money signing when he came from Real Madrid in the summer of 2013. Mustafi joined in 2016 from Valencia having impressed with his defensive skills during his time in Spain.
Both of them together have almost 400 appearances for the North London club. The duo have been teammates in the national setup too and have featured prominently in Germany’s World Cup triumph in 2014.
Charlie Nicholas feels the club should sell Mesut Ozil and Mustafi, as they have not been good enough to play for the Gunners. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:
“The problems still facing Arsenal is how do we get Mesut Ozil out the building with the wages he’s on? ‘Will he stay and play just because he’s on big money? How do we start to get players like Shkodran Mustafi out the door when they’re on big money?
“We have a problem with identifying players. Then what we did is we started paying £30 million, £40m for Mustafi and defenders who in all honesty, no disrespect to them it’s only my opinion, are not cut out for Arsenal and have not been good enough.
“‘So they’ve been buying wrong. The players then realise they are not a threat to win the Premier League or we’re out of the Champions League. ‘So the hierarchy have got it all wrong.”
Both the Germans will be out of contract in the summer of 2021, so the North London club need to make a decision on what to do with them. Otherwise, both might leave on a free given the fact that the club has made a significant investment in them.
Ozil in particular found himself frozen out of the first team under former manager Unai Emery. But under new boss Mikel Arteta, he has found a new lease of life and has been in much better form. Similarly, Mustafi has also found a bit of a resurgence that will encourage fans.
One reason that might prevent Arsenal from offering a contract extension would be the fact that both players are on high wages. The club should be more proactive in taking up these contractual decisions and if there is no intention of extending these deals, it would be better to cash in on them now.
