I think it was a lot about saving face. We had Alexis and Özil, who were both stalling on a new deal. Be this due to lack of ambition/investment in the squad, we don’t know. But they were stalling.
The club could not be seen to lose both of its premier stars on free transfers in one summer, so we had to agree with one.
Alexis wanted City (and who can blame him?) but then United thundered in with £500k a week plus a cut of image rights. This was a deal that Arsenal will never be able to match.
That left Özil as the one we couldn’t afford to lose. Not because of what he does on the pitch, but because of his stature in the game.
"Scoring a goal is better than sex" - Whoever said that was sticking it to the wrong woman
Northern Monkey ... who can't upload a bleeding Avatar
It doesn't make sense. If that was the case, it seems utterly ludicrous to give him £350K a week and make him one of the highest paid players in the league.
Alternatively, there were lots of takers and we "showed" our ambition by signing him up
The obvious fall back is that we were desperate and vulnerable, Ozil's team sensed it and went in for the kill. A tactic I intend to use this summer at my place of work.
"Scoring a goal is better than sex" - Whoever said that was sticking it to the wrong woman
Perhaps he was happy and never angling for a move just a right deal (though he was often and heavily connected with a move to Old Trafford, certainly prior to the Alexis deal). It's one of WES's favourite angles in his many diatribes against Ramsey earlier in the season/over the summer to point out that he was never really connected with any big clubs, yet lo and behold once it was clear he was going there were plenty of alleged suitors and a massive offer from one of the biggest clubs in the world