Mesut Ozil is one of the most creative players in the English Premier League (EPL) and this has been established with him having the best assists record in the league. The German has been one of the consistent performers for the Gunners since signing for them in 2013.
A player of such magnitude surely deserves much more than the current £140,000-a-week Ozil gets. The 27-year-old is well aware of the situation and has been negotiating hard during his talks with Arsenal over a contract extension.
Ozil's German teammate, Toni Kroos recently received a mouth-watering new contract where he is getting paid a whopping £340,000 a week. This means that Kroos will get a take-home salary of £180,000, which is nearly twice Ozil's take-home salary of £95,000.
Now, here we are talking two different clubs. Real Madrid is a footballing powerhouse, the most valuable football club in the world as well as the highest earning club for the last 11 seasons. It cannot be expected by Arsenal to pay such exorbitant amounts to Ozil, who might just be their best player. However, it does warrant a pay rise to the Gunners playmaker who has notched up 33 assists in just 89 league games.
In a recent report released by Bild, it was revealed that Ozil receives lesser pay than Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Phillip Lahm, Ilkay Gundogan and Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has not featured in a single game this season and still gets £190,000 a week!
Ozil's current deal, which will end in 2018, is one that Arsenal will want to settle at the earliest. The Gunners will feel that they could have tried completing the deal during the summer when the value of the pound was much better.
Now, with the repercussions of the Brexit decision, the Gunners will have to pay much more with a currency that has lost nearly 20 Euro cents in the last four months (£1 equals €1.11 now as opposed to €1.30 in the summer). This means that Arsenal might end up paying Ozil nearly 20 percent more than what they could have paid had they made a deal during the summer.
In addition to Ozil, Arsenal will also need to sort out a new contract for the in-form Alexis Sanchez, whose current deal also runs out in 2018. The Gunners, who have, under Arsene Wenger, been a financially wise club, will need to make some vital decisions regarding two of their stalwarts and keep them at the club for a longer time.
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