Mesut Ozil has, over the past week, slowly but surely become the Catalan media’s favourite as first Coutinho alternative. A whole list of names have been gone through, but the marker right now is sticking on Ozil and there’s more stories about his potential arrival than anyone else.
In their Friday edition, AS state the Arsenal contract rebel is asking for a huge amount to move to Barcelona. He wants €370,000 per week, and AS work that out to be around €10m a year clean of tax.
The Spanish media believe it’s pretty nailed on that Ozil is leaving Arsenal, so it’s just a question of whether, and how much, Barcelona would want him. Right now, Coutinho remains first option, and Barcelona’s wage bill, which is 84% of turnover, makes handing out huge wages perhaps even harder than paying huge transfer fees.
Ozil ‘may not be essential’ to Arsenal’s new project, state AS, with Leon Goretzka then named as a strong candidate within the club.
Sven Mislintat is said to have already noted the player, and been impressed by Goretzka for a while. The announcement the BVB super-scout is joining is less than a week old, and already he’s being dragged into Arsenal transfer rumours.
Recommending Goretzka is one thing, and there’s every chance he has, or will, and AS are correct, but Arsene Wenger will surely be more excited when Mislintat finds him a second division gem few have ever heard of.
