- Ozil had been linked with a move to join Barcelona
- German ace’s contract with Arsenal set to expire at the end of the season
- Balague suggests that Barcelona aren’t interested in him
- READ MORE: Barcelona in talks to land €100m target, €380,000+-a-week demands must be met
Doubts have been raised over Barcelona’s reported pursuit of Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil, with Guillem Balague not convinced they’re even interested.
Question marks remain over the 29-year-old’s future, as he will see his current deal with the Gunners expire at the end of the season.
With a renewal nowhere in sight, that has unsurprisingly led to talk of an exit, with The Sun noting that he was linked with a £20m move to the Catalan giants in the January transfer window earlier this week.
However, Balague has suggested that Barcelona are not considering a move for the German international, although he has been offered to them which suggests Arsenal may have accepted that they’ll be losing him, and could be pushing him to move abroad rather than risk seeing him join a Premier League rival.
“Barcelona had the possibility of signing Ozil last summer – he was offered to them – but they decided against it as they thought they didn’t need him. They didn’t think Ozil was the proper player they wanted,” he said in a Sky Sports Q&A.
“The same situation has happened here, he has been offered to them but my understanding is that he is not the kind of player they are looking for. It’s more media talk than anything else.”
In turn, it remains to be seen where Ozil is plying his trade next season, but as far as Balague is concerned, he’s not convinced that he’ll be at the Nou Camp.
Ernesto Valverde already has Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Ousmane Dembele and others at his disposal, and while they’ll want to get stronger and continue to compete for major trophies on various fronts in the years ahead, perhaps Ozil isn’t the right fit for them even though he has the technical quality and creative ability to slip in perfectly.