Arsenal face fresh contract headache, £350k-a-week Ozil deal could have knock-on effect

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If Saturday was anything to go by, Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey is going to benefit massively from the January additions at the club.

The 27-year-old helped himself to a hat-trick in the win over Everton, doubling his tally for the season in the process to make it six goals in 18 Premier League outings.

With the additional creativity and goalscoring threat around him from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang following their arrivals last month, Arsene Wenger will be hoping that the Welshman can bring back that element of his game.

Injuries have been a real problem for him, but after scoring 16 goals in the 2013/14 campaign from midfield, that’s the benchmark that he will want to get back to moving forward.

However, according to The Mirror, things could get a little tricky for the Gunners in getting him to commit his long-term future to the club as it’s claimed that Mesut Ozil’s reported new £350,000-a-week contract along with salaries handed out to recent signings may see him demand much more than Arsenal perhaps anticipated.

That was always going to become a problem for Arsenal, particularly given how public all the contract talk has been, and ultimately, Ramsey might not even be the only player to follow this path.

Whether or not the north London giants can satisfy those demands remains to be seen now, but with 18 months remaining on his contract, perhaps he isn’t the priority for the time being with the likes of Jack Wilshere seeing their current deals expire as soon as this summer.

On the other side of that coin, convincing Ozil to sign a new contract will surely help Arsenal’s cause in persuading others to follow suit having shown their ambition by keeping one of their best players and significantly strengthening the side with their two marquee January additions.

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