Real Madrid and Chelsea to pull off stunning swap deal, Manchester United to launch £162 million bid for Real Madrid superstar and more: Transfer Roundup, 20 December 2018

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Dec 23, 2018 13:16 GMT

Arsenal open to selling Mesut Ozil in January

According to The Independent, Arsenal are open to the idea of selling their playmaker Mesut Ozil in January. The decision comes on the back of Unai Emery's inability to find a suitable role for the former German international in his new setup at Arsenal.

The report adds that there are suggestions that there has been a fall out between the player and manager over Ozil's tactical role in the side. Ozil has regularly been left out of the squad and did not feature for the Gunners as they crashed out of the League Cup against Tottenham Hotspur.

Emery refused to rule out the possibility of a winter transfer deal for Ozil. The disagreement between Emery and Ozil is understood to have stemmed from the midfielder's inability to contribute defensively. Emery demands great work rates from his players and Ozil is known to switch off sporadically.

Arsenal are also willing to offload him as he reportedly earns around £300,000-per-week. That's a lot of money for deadwood.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad