Barcelona will reportedly attempt to link star playmaker Mesut Özil with Messi, Suarez and Neymar this summer and are willing to offer three players to Arsenal in order to do so. According to AS, Barcelona would be ready to offload Arda Turan, Munir and Sandro in exchange for the German world cup winner, who has yet to begin talks on a new contract at Arsenal.
But any attempt to sign Özil could be complicated due to a buy-back clause which would give Real Madrid a 48-hour first refusal for any offer from a rival La Liga side. According to the agreement, if Arsenal accepts any offer from a Spanish club they will be required to offer the player to Real Madrid for the same terms. Failure to do so would see Madrid receive 33% of any transfer fee above 50 million euros.
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Despite this, Barcelona will allegedly look to find a loophole in this agreement and take advantage of the fact Los Blancos have been banned from any transfer activity until July next year. The club, along with Atletico Madrid, were sanctioned by FIFA in January after they were found guilty of breaching rules over the transfers of minors. Both clubs are currently planning to appeal the ban.
The German star has been in stunning form for Arsenal this season, recording 18 goals and seven assists in 38 appearances. Speculation has risen in recent weeks that Özil has become discontent with Arsenal after yet another potential failure to win the title, and was forced to take to Twitter earlier this week in order to deny a rift between himself and manager Arsene Wenger.
The opportunity to link up with what is arguably the greatest ever attacking lineup could be too good to refuse for Özil, who could potentially force Arsenal into a move if he doesn’ t extend the contract he signed with the North London club in 2013. Whether Arsenal would be willing to part with their star player in exchange for three others is another story, however, and it could well be that Özil is as happy at The Emirates as he claims to be.
While Arsenal fans may be disappointed to hear that their star player could potentially be on the move, I think we can all agree that a lineup featuring the playmaker behind the Messi, Suarez and Neymar would be both terrifying and exciting to watch for all fans of the game.
