Arsenal have reportedly been rocked by the news that Mesut Ozil has offered his services to Barcelona, while Thomas Lemar won’t be joining the Gunners.
Ozil has less than 12 months remaining on his current Arsenal contract, and along with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, speculation has been rife over his long-term future at the Emirates.
According to Don Balon, as reported by The Daily Star, his agent has offered him to Barcelona, with the Catalan giants in search of reinforcements after losing Neymar last month.
The 28-year-old could be considered an alternative to Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho, as per the report, but it remains to be seen whether or not a bid is made before the end of the summer transfer window.
Arsene Wenger has remained adamant all summer that he will not sell his key players, and is seemingly ready to risk losing them for nothing in a year’s time unless Arsenal’s form on the pitch or his attempts to persuade them to commit themselves to the club can convince them to stay beyond their current contracts.
Meanwhile, The Daily Mail report that Arsenal have abandoned their hopes of signing Monaco’s Thomas Lemar this summer, with Wenger instead now set to focus on trimming the club’s wage bill.
It’s claimed that the Gunners have accepted that the Ligue 1 champions are unlikely to sell until next summer, and so their business in this window could now be over in terms of players coming in.
The Mirror had reported last week that the Premier League outfit were ready to make a fresh £54m bid the French international, but that now seems unlikely which in turn will be a huge disappointment for fans hoping for one more game-changing signing.
It’s added by the Mail that the focus will now be on offloading Mathieu Debuchy, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson, Lucas Perez and Joel Campbell, while Jack Wilshere could be another to leave.
This is surely linked to Arsenal’s hopes of getting the likes of Ozil, Sanchez and Oxlade-Chamberlain to pen new deals, as they’ll have to manage their wage budget accordingly.