Rocky the King
Mesut Özil will play his first few games under the gaze of many Gooners who will hold their breath and hope that the tag of being the best number 10 in the world will not affect his game.
Indeed so heavy is the weight of expectation that one can be forgiven if life takes on a sense of meaningless whilst awaiting the outcome of his first game.
For this Marquee signing, will galvanize Arsenal at all levels from the Boardroom down. However he nearly didn't make it to Arsenal but for a little luck and a lot of common sense on Özil's part. Now it seems the signing will take on the air of a legal soap opera as warring parties face off over claims and counter-claims between the player and his ex-owners. It seems that Real Madrid are not just content with selling the player, it would appear the professionalism of Özil displayed throughout this transfer is not being matched allegedly by one Señor Florentino Pérez.
Compare this development with the manner of Arsène Wenger's handling of the deal and his subsequent acknowledgment of division at Arsenal Football club by not entering into contract negotiations until results improve. However I remain incensed however by the propaganda machine at AFC trying to shore up Stan Kroenke before this year's AGM. Does Ivan Gazidis really expect us all to swallow the spin that the Özil deal was as a direct result of three months planning with Stan Kroenke being kept constantly informed by many of phone calls or should we deal with reality and check the facts?
Fact 1:
Despite an early enquiry by Arsenal for Özil, the player himself had no intention of leaving Real Madrid.
Fact 2:
Real Madrid tried to sell a triumvirate of players Di Maria, Özil and Benzema across Europe during the run up to concluding of the transfer window, in order to pay for expected signings of Bale and Luis Suarez.
Fact 3:
Real Madrid were undone by Daniel Levy's desire to increase the amount of cash paid up front for Bale rather than by instalments, he did not delay the deal to aggravate Arsenal as some pundits have suggested, he merely wanted to make sure that Spurs had real cash in hand. By this time also Liverpool had finally turned down the prospect of selling Suarez, which meant Pérez had to close the deal with Arsenal to secure Bale as a matter of pride.
Fact 4
Guillem Balague retweeted via the Spanish column source AS on 29/8/13
"Mesut Özil, who is signing shirts at the club shop at the Bernabéu, confirmed that he will be staying at Real Madrid amid interest from MUFC."
Why MUFC were still fixated over Cesc Fabregas despite having the opportunity to bid for Özil will remain a mystery.
Fact 5
Özil remained the subject of bids from several clubs after Real Madrid indicated its intention of player availability. In response interest was being firmly expressed by PSG and AFC.
Observation: 1
Guillem Balague tweets the following on 29/8/13,
"Özil said no to Manchester United and Arsenal. So they are targeting big players"
Observation: 2
On Sept 2 Guillem tweeted the latest concerning Özil
"According to Cope Radio, Özil COULD leave for PSG or Arsenal. Both offers on the table"
Observation: 3
During the final days before the deal was agreed by Real Madrid with Arsenal, Özil himself made a strong personal statement that he was contracted to Real Madrid and he wanted to stay at the club.
Observation: 4
Guillem tweeted on Sept 2 (@GuillemBalague):
"Real Madrid have negotiated with Arsenal and agreed a fee. But player (upset with the club) not agreed anything with anybody"
Observation: 5
Hours passed as Real Madrid made it clear via Carlo Ancelotti, that Özil would not be guaranteed a first team spot in a World Cup season and that it would be in his interest that he should move. At this stage Real Madrid were desperate for cash to conclude the Bale signing. This soured the long standing relationship between club and player. Now it was only a question of where he would move to, not if or when…
Observation: 6
A late PSG offer to try and hijack the deal for Özil was thankfully declined by Real Madrid as they had entered into an agreement with Arsenal FC and they felt that it would be wrong to renege upon this. This was the luck that I referred to earlier.
Özil later signs for AFC and the rest is flawed history as full credit is given to Ivan Gazidis and Stan Kroenke by briefed journalists despite the fact that in the end it was Arsène Wenger's words that made the difference to Özil agreeing to join the club. So why do I feel the need to point out these semantics?
Well despite our major destruction of the transfer record at Arsenal, the team remains short of a striker, a left winger and a centre back. Are you really telling me that we cannot work on more than one transfer deal at a time? Or was Arsène distracted by the possibility of Karim Benzema? My guess is that as before Arsène's valuation of Benzema did not match Real's own valuation plus Pérez was thought to be against the sale of his favourite striker.
So despite this major signing I would wager that at this year’s Arsenal FC AGM, Ivan Gazidis will try and have you believe that all is well on the Board and his plans are on track at the club for its revival, with Stan Kroenke being the one to thank for the new culture shift. Granted Stan Kroenke would have had to give final approval for this world class signing, but really can Kroenke truly take such credit?
Anyway, whoever you believe, let's hope that fans do not end up paying for Özil with higher season ticket prices next year as Arsenal FC had plenty enough cash to fund the transfer. This was mainly through the extra £60 million due to the club via the Sky Premier League TV deal. So there is no genuine excuse to raise ticket prices unless Stan is greedy.
I am therefore calling upon fans who really love this club, to keep up the pressure on the Board as I still feel that Stan Kroenke is a hindrance to our future prosperity. We need to see major changes in the Boardroom and a new manager with the funds to match before I am willing to give him that trust. He was content to sit by and say nothing whilst Arsenal burned with the flames of internecine warfare on the terraces.
So despite Arsène Wenger’s late conversion to the principle of spending our hard earned cash, he has long since forfeited the right to continue managing Arsenal FC by his refusal to change at a time when we could have cemented unity within the club. By so doing he has not only damaged his legacy of being the most successful manager in the club’s history but also been responsible for some distressing irreconcilable divisions at the club which has been very damaging in all respects not just in Trophy terms.
What do you think?
Twitter@RTKafc_insider
