Mesut Ozil’s bumper contract hampered Arsenal’s ability to grow

Mesut Ozil getting closer to joining Fenerbahce.

The German playmaker is out of contract at the end of the season and has been heavily linked with Turkish side Fenerbahce.

Fenerbahce’s sporting director Emre Belozoglu admitted that Ozil is closer than ever to joining the Turkish giants.

Football expert Raphael Honigstein believes the long-running transfer saga with Ozil has sabotaged the club’s hopes of bringing in new players.

“I think if you spend so much on one player, and then for whatever reason, he’s no longer in the squad that affects your ability to attract other players. So part of those issues go back to Arsenal’s decision to give him that new contract,” Honigstein told the Transfer Talk podcast.

“I mean, no one forced and that’s the point he’s always making. No one forced them to give him this huge deal. They felt it was absolutely necessary. One of the last things Arsene Wenger did was make sure that he signed that new deal.

“And that hampered Arsenal’s ability to grow in the transfer market ever since. But of course, some of these issues preceded that; some of the weakness that we saw from Arsenal preceded that, how much was Mesut responsible for that rather than just being part or sort of swept up in it? It’s impossible to answer.

“I think, the latter stages of the Wenger era, and I would include Mesut in that, were characterised by everyone becoming a little bit too comfortable. And I think a different manager might have got more out of Mesut just as Jose Mourinho did.”

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