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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he would pay £42m for Mesut Ozil again
Arsenal news: Arsene Wenger launches impassioned defence of club record signing Mesut Ozil and his decision to play him on the left not as a No 10
Arsene Wenger has insisted that he would happily spend £42 million on Mesut Ozil again and launched an impassioned defence of his decision to play his club record signing out wide so far this season.
Ozil’s peripheral performances against Manchester City and then Borussia Dortmund have prompted renewed debate both about whether Wenger should reorganise his team to play the German through the middle or even drop him.
Wenger is adamant that Ozil’s cost is irrelevant and that managers have always faced the problem of trying to find a system that includes all their best players.
“You expect the team to play well and not to put the responsibility on any one player to be a magician that does not exist any more in the modern game,” he said. “Remember, Ozil did not pay the £42million himself. I would pay the money again.
“Of course. But I feel that responsibility exactly the same for a player who cost £1. When I see a talent, for any player, I think how can I get the best out of him. That is not linked with price. It is just a coincidence that the market is like it is.”
Wenger then highlighted the great 1970 Brazil World Cup winning side and pointed out that Ozil had played wide on the left when Germany triumphed in Brazil this summer. “This guy (Ozil) has played for the German national team and won the World Cup playing wide and nobody found a word to say,” said Wenger. “He has been criticised during the World Cup and still played well and he was always in every single team.
“[Zinedine] Zidane went to Real Madrid, he played on the left. There was never a debate and he had to play there.
“Because in the middle they had Raul and Ronaldo and he made room and played on the left. When you have the ball you play where you want and go where you want.
“It is a debate as old as the world. Since we played football. When you look at the Brazil team in 1970 they had Tostao, Rivelino, Pele, Jairzinho and Gerson. They all played number ten in their club. They didn’t know what to do. They put them all together and they won the World Cup in a convincing way. There is no Pele [in my team]. Pele scored 1,300 goals.
“What is Wilshere? Basically a number ten. He played his whole life at number ten. Somebody had to go out there. Is it Wilshere, Ozil, Ramsey and nobody is really natural out wide? So you keep good players out or you try to get them together.
“We organise to give him freedom. We have that desire to play well altogether and I think we can really achieve it. We can have a fantastic team.
“The main man is the one with the ball. The others have to give him solutions to play. Every teams finds a way to go through its strong point.”
Wenger believes that defensive problems were the main issue in Dortmund, where Arsenal were beaten 2-0. “Look we played badly as a team and it was not Ozil who played bad,” he said. “When you are an offensive team and the team does not have the ball it’s not Ozil who was poor on the night. It’s our defensive department who were not good enough.
“Ozil is a top player. It is just a fashion that everyone has a word to say about him, but watch a game you will see how many balls he lost and how many balls other players lost.”
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