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Alexis Sanchez & Mesut Ozil: Selling Arsenal players 'right' - Martin Keown

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Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil
Arsenal signed Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for £35m, while Mesut Ozil cost £42m from Real Madrid

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger should sell "overindulged" star players Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil after agreeing to extend his stay at the club, says ex-defender Martin Keown.

The Frenchman has signed a two-year deal and says his side can challenge for the Premier League title next term.

Forward Sanchez and midfielder Ozil are entering the final year of their deals.

"If they have to say cheerio to those two players, then that is the right decision," Keown told BBC Radio 5 live.

Chile striker Sanchez scored 24 goals and provided 10 assists for the Gunners last season while Germany player Ozil netted eight goals and laid on nine assists. Wenger's side finished fifth in the league, missing out on Champions League football for the first time in 20 years.

The north London club went out of this year's competition at the last-16 stage following a 10-2 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich.

Sanchez has reportedly been offeredexternal-link a new £300,000-a-week contract, while Ozil has reportedly refused to signexternal-link a £250,000-a-week deal.

Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger has won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups in 21 years at Arsenal

"They have been overindulged at times this season and they let Arsenal down in the period when they lost twice to Bayern Munich, conceding 10 goals. That is the level of the problem," said Keown, who played more than 300 games for Arsenal.

"The manager needs to make some really tough decisions now. Sanchez's contract needs to get 100% secured. Is that going to happen? Will Ozil leave?

"I am sure both players want to go elsewhere because they want to win the Champions League, win the Premier League and maybe they do not feel it can be done at Arsenal. The club is bigger than two individuals."

'I do not want it to all fall apart in the next two years'

Wenger has said his side are "two players" off challenging for the title, and the club are expected to spend at least £100m on new players in the upcoming transfer window - which opens on 1 July - having also spent about that figure last summer.

Ex-captain Tony Adams, who played more than 500 games in a one-club career at Arsenal, feels the current group of players are not good enough to challenge for major honours.

"Maybe he thinks they can win the league in the next two years or get back into the Champions League. Looking at this squad, I don't think they can," Adams told BBC Wiltshire.

"But I can understand the frustration of the fans that want a league title and want to be competitive.

"We need to start being competitive and seen as number one by number one players instead of number four players on the pecking list."

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov owns a 30% stake in the club and had a £1bn bid to wrest control from majority shareholder Stan Kroenke rejected.

He issued a statement on Wednesday which called on the board to support Wenger.

"He has a great opportunity to deliver the success that the fans deserve and the legacy that his long contribution merits. However, without the right support there remains a real risk that his legacy will be tarnished," he added.

Adams added he does not want Wenger's job to "end in tears".

"I just do not want it to all fall apart in the next two years and Arsene is seen as a villain, a bad man for Arsenal. that would be wrong. He has been so brilliant for the club," he said.

'Fans must now unite behind Wenger'

Wenger joined the club in 1996 and has won three league titles - the last in their unbeaten season of 2003-04 - and seven FA Cup titles - a record for any manager.

But last season saw regular protests from some supporters, who called for him to end his long tenure at the club.

Arsenal Supporters' Trust spokesperson Tim Payton told BBC Sport that fans have "a right to a voice". Arsenal Fan TV presenter Robbie Lyle says the atmosphere at Emirates Stadium could become "toxic" again next season if they lose back-to-back games.

Wenger Out banners
Arsenal fans protested regularly against manager Arsene Wenger this season

Keown added: "Whether the fans want this decision or not, they have to get behind the manger. You cannot have a situation like last season, where there was a really difficult environment for the players to go in to.

"Coming off the bus there were people hurling abuse, all the 'Wenger Out' placards. It is time now they got behind the manager for the next two years and if that is going to be the send-off, then that is what he deserves."

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399 comments

  • Comment posted by its up for grabs now, at 22:14 31 May 2017

    Really BBC...?

    This is just embarrassing... you're like a sulky kid...
    You didn't get him the sack... get over it... move on...
    Everyone else wants you to...

  • Comment posted by We all laugh at the London stadium, at 21:24 31 May 2017

    Yes, that's right Martin, as insightful as Parlour and Wright, get rid of world class Sanchez but keep passengers Walcot, Mustafi, Coquelin, Elneny, Iwobi and Perez.

    No wonder Arsene wouldn't let you carry the cones.

  • Comment posted by boro73, at 22:00 31 May 2017

    Reportedly this reportedly that.. why has the BBC actually stopped reporting the names of the reporter. What upper tripe. Keown another misnoma. Atmosphere could become toxic says someone else who nobody has even heard of. BBC hang your head in shame. What an utter waste of time

  • Comment posted by D1679371461098, at 22:03 31 May 2017

    BBC when will you grow up and put an end to your Arsenal obsession. Third HYS in a day?

    It's getting silly now. You're encouraging the usual imbecilic trolls with their endlessly moronic non-points.

    Do you think it's funny? Do no other teams have anything newsworthy to discuss?

  • Comment posted by Gordon Pembury, at 22:18 31 May 2017

    Arsenal's Wenger Out mob are a disgrace to the club and to football. Who do they want to replace him? They never say. Piers Morgan, their cheerleader perhaps? Unless they say, then they are just a rabble and make most of us sick with their posing. AFC have won a better cup than the Europa, finished above MU and played better football. Do they go that way? No better than sheep

  • Comment posted by Nevermind, at 22:18 31 May 2017

    Why is the BBC obsessed with Arsenal?

  • Comment posted by Scratches Head, at 22:52 31 May 2017

    Sanchez is worth it. Ozil really isn't. Sanchez will drag any team up. Ozil only shines when surrounded by equally shiny people. Sanchez for captain so he can officially kick the arse of other lazy Arsenal players.

  • Comment posted by Ploughlane83, at 21:53 31 May 2017

    Recent comments by Adams show him to be a disrespectful moron

  • Comment posted by More Like It, at 22:50 31 May 2017

    Nor sure what Keown has been smoking over at the Emirates.
    Sell their 2 best players & Arsenal's chance of getting back to top 4 looks highly unlikely, Europa League qualification could even be beyond them.

  • Comment posted by carer, at 00:56 1 Jun 2017

    Sanchez is a quality player, and indeed he gives it 100%. However, often I see him pulling a face and blaming team mates for not passing to him, or when his own pass goes awry to a team mate he blames them. Similar to when Suarez was at Liverpool. I don't like this trait where a player belittles his team mates.

  • Comment posted by theWERT, at 23:33 31 May 2017

    113

    Too early to say it's wasted money on mustafi and xhaka. They've had ONE season everybody expects even young players to be settled and the real deal instantly today. I seem to remember Robert pires struggling in his first season....... guess you would have sold him 😂

  • Comment posted by Andy100, at 08:52 1 Jun 2017

    £250k and £300k a week and Sanchez and Ozil are not satisfied. It's just obscene. To echo Corbyn have they seen the food banks and homeless sleeping on the streets in this country?? What planet are they on!Ozil is lazy and useless anyway. Never turns up for the big games. I'd show them both the door.

  • Comment posted by User0444480512, at 00:09 1 Jun 2017

    If any of you, like me, truly are Arsenal fans, can you do us all a small favour in the new season? Wenger fans or not, DO NOT start getting your knickers in a twist if things start going the same way as this season. Support the club, the players AND the manager for the entire season, thick or thin. If you want to voice disapproval of something, do it at the end of the season please. Thanks

  • Comment posted by DulwichGooner, at 22:20 31 May 2017

    No more AFC cut and paste articles please. How about a HYS about, for example, Spurs not winning the league since 1961. That's right, 1961!

  • Comment posted by HesGonnaCostaLot, at 03:09 1 Jun 2017

    Arsenal should definitely get rid of Ozil, always been a damper on the squad ignoring the odd burst of form. Sanchez, however, is crucial, no matter what his attitude is like. Was brilliant against Chelsea despite all the talk, he gets the job done.

  • Comment posted by Rogue Biscuit, at 05:25 1 Jun 2017

    What a great idea.
    Lets get rid of everything good at the club so there is just Wenger, Gazidis and Kroenke left so they can gloat how much money they have made and saved.
    Keown reveals himself more as a complete idiot every time he opens his mouth..

  • Comment posted by Nelly, at 00:42 1 Jun 2017

    @146, please, please, please stop commenting. All you ever do is moan. You slag off the manager, slag off the players, slag off anyone who doesn't agree with your narrow view of the football World. Not all of us see winning three FA cups in four seasons as a 'waste of time'. Not all of us think Wenger is 'useless' having won 16 trophies. Finally, Chelsea have shown CL football is not essential.

  • Comment posted by Argyle, at 06:17 1 Jun 2017

    300,000 a week! That's 520 Junior Doctors a year.

  • Comment posted by Champ20ns, at 07:44 1 Jun 2017

    Arsenal have been "two players" away from winning the title for the last decade. Groundhog day?

    Ozil wants £350,000 a week. Pure greed. No one will pay him that apart from a Chinese club.

  • Comment posted by sanquirico, at 23:45 31 May 2017

    Adamgooner and plastic scratchesballs. You are the plastic of plasticness. Go to a game and get behind your team. Sit at home, have a tinny, don't go to the pub or a game, gawk and spit at the tele and feel very proud of your disrespectful contribution to being a fan. Yes, come back and say I'm a sycophantic Wenger fan but I'm not, I'm a fan of the club I love and you bring the club into disrepute

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