Ozil ready to sign new Arsenal deal

Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil is set to sign a new contract with the club, extending his stay at the Emirates to 2020, according to reports in Germany.

German sports newspaper Sport Bild is reporting that Arsenal’s assist master Mesut Ozil is ready to pen a new deal with the Gunners, bumping his wages up and keeping him at the club until 2020.

The former Werder Bremen midfielder will reportedly see his weekly earnings rise from €160,000 per week to €230,000.

Ozil has also apparently insisted on the club agreeing to two additional conditions before he will ink his new contract.

The first is that he gets to wear the number 10 shirt, currently occupied by England midfielder Jack Wilshere who is on loan at Bournemouth for the season. It is thought that Ozil’s childhood admiration of Dutch maestro Dennis Bergkamp is the chief reason behind his desire to sport the number.

The second condition is that Arsenal agree to spend sufficient amounts of money in the transfer market in the near future to ensure that they are able to compete for the biggest prizes at domestically and on the Continent.

Arsenal spent around £80 million this summer to bring in Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez.

But compared to the outlay of Manchester City and Manchester United – around £170 million and £140 million respectively – that figure pales in comparison. And the Gunners still appear to lack the kind of 30 goal striker that has been missing from their line up since Thierry Henry joined FC Barcelona in 2007.