Rohan Sengupta
Jose Mourinho is preparing a sensational move to grab Mesut Ozil from Arsenal. The Special One has been given the green signal by the club’s money men to make a bid of up to £35million for the Germany star, reports the Mirror.
Ozil, 29, is yet to pen a renewal at the Emirates and it’s still unclear as to whether he will opt to prolong his stay. With this in mind, Manchester United are supposedly preparing an audacious bid in order to test the Gunners’ resolve to part ways with their German playmaker during the January transfer window.
The Red Devils would, of course, prefer to wait until the German is available for free in the summer, rather than pay an inflated sum in this window but are wary of getting involved in a bidding war with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.
The Glazers are reportedly willing to fork up £80m in transfer funds for this January window for reinforcements as United try to stop their cross-town rivals Manchester City running away with the title. Mourinho has been increasingly vocal of late about his need to invest further in his squad despite spending big since moving to United.
The Portuguese manager remains a big admirer of Ozil, having worked with him at Real Madrid, where the German international enjoyed the best spell of his career, winning the 2011/12 La Liga title. With 6 months remaining on his contract, Ozil is expected to cost around £35m, as Arsenal are not in a position to demand more for the player.
Although Ozil would be after a big salary, United would have no problem in funding it. An influential figure in Arsenal’s engine, the playmaker has scored 4 goals this term and has also provided 5 assists in 18 appearances. Arsene Wenger is now left with two choices. He should either hold on to the German pass master and lose him for free in the summer (if he fails to sign a contract extension), or he should sell the player now and cut the losses.
£35m for a player with 6 months left on the contract is such a huge sum but when the product you receive is Mesut Ozil, you tend to worry little about the so-called ‘money factor’.
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