How important is the Number 10 shirt to Ozil’s future at Arsenal?

When it comes to Mesut Ozil and Arsenal, I think many will be becoming tired of hearing how the club are desperately trying to tie him down to a new deal, but that he’s still sitting on the fence about committing his future. In my opinion I think Ozil is truly committed to the club, he wants to win big with Arsenal and I think he would be willing to sign a new extension in a heartbeat, if Arsenal were to firstly clear a few things up with him.

The first condition that seems to be on Ozil’s list is the manager of Arsenal football club. There’s been plenty of speculation surrounding Arsene Wenger’s future at the club and Ozil has pledged his loyalty to Le Prof. Ozil is showing quite clearly that he fully backs Wenger remaining at Arsenal and although I don’t think a managerial change would necessarily mean Ozil’s departure, I think he’d be very disappointed if Wenger’s potential replacement wasn’t on par with his current expectations.

Secondly we can assume that Ozil most likely wants a pay rise. It’s been reported on numerous occasions that the German is looking to increase his current deal to above the £200,000 a week mark, although how realistic that figure is remains to be seen. Arsenal could probably afford to bump his wage up to that scale, but it’s Alexis Sanchez that is also reportedly demanding a similar figure, not to mention that the other players would also be hoping for a wage increase.

Finally something less familiar that seems to be in contention for Ozil is the squad number he’d be wearing. Ozil has maintained the number 11 shirt at Arsenal since his arrival, taking the number off an outgoing Andre Santos. Ozil has become well recognised as Arsenal’s number 11 but is he hoping for a change of squad number if he agrees to a new deal. According to the Metro, who report a quote from media outlet Kicker, Ozil is reportedly keen on taking the currently unassigned number ten shirt. Ozil supposedly said: “Since Wilshere’s departure last summer, the number is free, but I have yet to get it.”

The number is of course currently unassigned at Arsenal due to the fact Jack Wilshere is out on loan at Bournemouth. However I can’t expect Wenger to just allow Ozil to change numbers, especially with Wilshere likely to return for good in the summer. Ozil wouldn’t be able to change squad numbers halfway through the Premier League season with Arsenal anyway, due to competition regulations and so there’s really a lot of doubt surrounding this story.

Should Ozil switch to the number ten? Personally I don’t think it makes much of a difference, however if it’s a demand that’ll get him to sign a new contract, you have to wonder if come the start of the season, will Wenger be saying sorry to Wilshere in order to give the club star what he wishes?

By AH