TOXIC: Man not offered new deal will not sign new deal

TOXIC: Man not offered new deal will not sign new deal

A guy like you should wear a warning…
The Sun, December 17: ‘PEP GUARDIOLA is ready to pounce on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Arsenal contract stand-off…The Ox has just 18 months left on his Emirates contract.

‘But unlike team-mates Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, Arsenal have NO talks scheduled with the 23-year-old on a new deal. And the Ox will assess all his options next month – even if it means moving away from Emirates.’

The Sun, February 20: ‘ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN has emerged as a £30million target for Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho.

‘The Gunners midfielder has struggled to establish himself as a regular first-team player in Arsene Wenger‘s XI, meaning he may be interested in leaving.’

The Sun, February 22: ‘MANCHESTER CITY and Everton are both eyeing up summer moves for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

‘The Arsenal midfielder has just a year remaining on his current deal and has struggled to become a regular first-team player in Arsene Wenger‘s starting XI.’

And yet, Neil Ashton wants us to believe that his story saying ‘FED-UP Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is the latest star who wants to quit Arsenal’ is a) ‘exclusive’ and b) worthy of the back page. It’s not even the first time your own paper has said it, Neil.

And isn’t it curious that December’s ‘Arsenal have NO talks scheduled’ has become March’s ‘Oxlade-Chamberlain – who has 18 months left on his Emirates contract – and has no intention of extending it’.

So, footballer who has started only 11 Premier League games ‘has no intention’ of signing a contract that has not yet been offered?

TOXIC.

They don’t speak for us
Arsene Wenger is systematically eviscerated by Neil Ashton in The Sun, who claims to know the collective mindset of the Arsenal players as he writes that ‘THEY want a modern manager with modern methods’. Every single one of them. As for Wenger, they ‘respect him but they do not hold him in the same regard as some of the super coaches in the Premier League’. Every single one of them. ‘Training is viewed as routine and monotonous’. By every single one of them.

Captain Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Francis Coquelin and Olivier Giroud with their new contracts, Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka who only joined last summer, Hector Bellerin and Alex Iwobi with their long-term deals, Theo Walcott with his ‘war cry’ in support of Arsene Wenger this week, Santi Cazorla in the treatment room. All of them ‘want a modern manager with modern methods’ and all of them view training as ‘routine and monotonous’.

And this is all absolutely definitely not just the view of those representing certain players who are currently in contract disputes with the club?

Ask a silly question
And thus ends Neil Ashton’s piece:

‘Ask yourself this: if Wenger was out of work and Arsenal wanted a new manager, would they turn to the Frenchman?’

Well no, because they would have just bloody sacked him.

Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move!
The Daily Mail are ‘exclusively’ claiming an ‘exodus of stars’ will take place this summer at Arsenal. Let’s take a look at this ‘exodus’ (‘a mass departure of people’, according to the dictionary) in closer detail.

First there’s Mesut Ozil, with the Mail admitting ‘the club are still hopeful of agreeing an extension’. Right. That’s not a strong start.

And then there’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (of course), ‘seriously considering his future’. And so he should if Arsenal continue not to actually offer him a contract because his performances have not been good enough for a team with title ambitions. The 11 Premier League starts is the clue there.

Now Jack Wilshere, who has not actually been an Arsenal player this season.

And then there’s Alexis Sanchez – a genuine ‘star’ who could genuinely leave this summer.

Next comes Lucas Perez; he has started two Premier League games this season.

And we end with reserve goalkeeper David Ospina.

Hmmm. It doesn’t really feel like a mass departure of stars. It feels like one ‘star’ will leave, another might follow, and some fringe players are unhappy because they’re not playing.

Just do it
Mediawatch has long been amused by the attempts of the national press to help Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain find a new, better club. And Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail is in fine form in his ‘exodus’ piece.

‘Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is known to be a fan of Oxlade-Chamberlain, and adding the former Southampton man to his wealth of attacking talent would be an intriguing proposition for the Portuguese.

‘Pep Guardiola considered a swoop for the Arsenal star last season and will be interested again this summer, while the fact Oxlade-Chamberlain has a boot deal with Nike would provide Manchester City valuable marketing synergy – much like adidas’ connections with Paul Pogba and United.’

Yes, because occasional Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is almost exactly the same as the most expensive player in the world. And that paragraph absolutely does not read like a sales pitch from Oxlade-Chamberlain’s agent.

How odd that City bought the Adidas-wearing Gabriel Jesus in January rather than Nike ambassador Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain when they were ‘ready to pounce’.

Lose yourself
Martin Keown is in the Daily Mail saying it is ‘excruciating’ to watch what is happening to Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. We know how you feel, Martin; it was excruciating to watch BT Sport and listen to your commentary on Tuesday night. He tells the Mail:

‘I went to the ground on Tuesday night hoping the team would show they had the tools for the fight. They did not.’

So it must have been a Martin Keown who said during commentary: “Hopefully this can be a springboard to better things.”

Actually no…

‘I was co-commentating for BT Sport and, while you can lose yourself in the match concentrating on your work…’

Easily done.

Five ridiculous headlines from more successful websites
‘Manchester United confirm deal with Chelsea over players’- The Daily Star find a way to make a six-week training programme sound pretty damn sexy clicky.

‘Phil Neville posts snap from first EVER ride on the Tube at the age of 40’ – MailOnline bring us the big football news.

‘Juander Herrera?! Manchester United’s Spanish duo confuse fans with freaky face swap photograph’ – MailOnline bring us more of the big football news.

‘Liverpool bombshell: Jurgen Klopp tells pals it’d be an honour to manage Barcelona’ – The Daily Star have been reading Spanish shyster website Don Balon.

‘REVEALED: ‘MIRACLE’ EXPLAINED: PSG complete just FOUR passes in last ten minutes as Barca plunder three goals to seal epic comeback’ – The Sun. Thanks. We were wondering how it happened.

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Adam Bate looks at the Alexis Sanchez numbers
Jason Burt on the reporter’s experience of that Barcelona comeback
Jim Hart on watching Iraq win the Asian Cup