Arsenal transfer news: Mesut Ozil set for Barcelona talks

Arguably the most inconsistent Arsenal player in history – Mesut Ozil – is “set to open talks on a move to Barcelona”, claims The Sun.

The paper says that the German midfielder, whose contract expires in June, is allowed to talk to other clubs from January onwards. Top of his chat list is Barcelona.

It’s no secret that the 29-year-old former Real Madrid star misses Spain. The Sun claims that the Catalan club are “serious about swooping for the Arsenal star”.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

That, says the paper, will present Arsene Wenger with a dilemma in the January window. Should he cash in on the mercurial midfielder, who showed what he’s capable of in last weekend’s win against Tottenham, or should he keep hold of Ozil for the second half of the season and try to persuade him to pen a new deal?

Sources in Spain allege that Ozil “favours a move back to La Liga”. Barcelona have apparently earmarked him as their marquee January signing having accepted defeat in their attempt to lure Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho to the Camp Nou.

Then again, caughtoffside alleges that Ozil, who missed Sunday’s last-gasp win over Burnley due to illness, has been contacted by former Real Madrid team-mate Sergio Ramos who is “urging him to snub a transfer to Barcelona”.

Why? Because according to the Spanish outlet, Ramos doesn’t believe Ozil should play for Real’s bitter rivals.

If the Daily Mail is to be believed, offloading Ozil in January is a likely scenario. Arsenal could then put the money made on his sale into prising Thomas Lemar from Monaco.

The paper claims that the Gunners will “launch a fresh bid” for the Monaco winger but it won’t be in the region of £90million.

That’s apparently what they were willing to pay the French side in August, only for the player to stay loyal to Monaco. But Lemar is “now open to the move”, perhaps because Monaco are no longer the force they once were, and his patchy form this season will result in Arsenal offering around £60m for the young Frenchman.