Arsene Wenger ‘hugely resented’ sanctioning part of Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal deal

Former Arsenal manager reportedly ‘hugely resented’ the handling of Mesut Ozil's contract situation before he left the club.

The Gunners have been left in dire straits by the conundrum around Ozil’s £350,000-a-week deal in recent months after he was axed from Mikel Arteta’s playing squads for this season.

The German continues to be one of the highest earners in world football, despite not having played a single minute competitively since March 2020.

It now appears that Arsenal will cancel his contract six months early in order to get him out of the door, meaning they are set to offer Ozil a huge pay off.

But according to the Independent, legendary Gunners boss Wenger has always been concerned by the manner of which Ozil was handed a new contract.

It is thought that Wenger had real issues sanctioning such a deal, but concerns that not doing so would lead to disharmony in the squad are said to have played a big role in Ozil’s hefty pay day.

Wenger reiterated this point last summer, admitting it was either a case of spending £100m on a new player or ploughing a huge section of the wage budget into keeping a key man on board.

"I feel that the length of the contract has nothing to do normally with the selection of the team,” said the Frenchman. “But sometimes there are special cases.

"Most of the time now we think when we sign a player for five years we have a good player for five years. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they practice, they play their best. Because they might be in their comfort zone.

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"He has a contract but the problem is that if you want to buy a player like him you have to spend £100m.

"And to maintain the value of the player, beyond the Ozil case, it is more about the way football is structured.

"To buy players of top, top quality you need £100m. So the decision you have to make is whether you re-sign the player, who costs us nothing, or do we have the money to buy a new player?"

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