TalkSPORT presenter and the man people love to hate Adrian Durham believes Arsene Wenger missed a trick with Christian Eriksen, insisting the Frenchman should have signed the Dane instead of Mesut Ozil.
Wenger managed to sign the German playmaker from Real Madrid on a club record fee of £42 million last summer, sparking excitement amongst the Arsenal faithful and players alike.
Many believe the arrival of Ozil has had a major impact on the team’s performances this season, but Durham reckons that’s not the case whatsoever:
‘Ozil has done some very good things since joining Arsenal but you wouldn’t say he is the player who’s had the biggest impact to take them to the top.
‘Maybe his arrival alone raised the performance of other players but the assessment that he may have a lengthy lull during the season has been proven correct. So far it hasn’t proved costly for the Gunners but it’s fair to say his team-mates are carrying him at this point in the season.’
Durham then went on to speak about Wenger’s fruitless project and claims the Frenchman didn’t have to splash out so much money on Ozil, maintaining an £11 million move for Eriksen would have made more sense and held the Arsenal manager’s credibility of not spending big on players:
‘By signing Ozil for a record fee, and giving him an eye-watering salary in the region of £140,000 a week, Wenger has clearly confirmed that the club has decided to abandon his well-intentioned, but ultimately, fruitless project of not spending big.
‘But that huge spend on one player didn’t need to be made. If Wenger casts his eyes across north London he will see Christian Eriksen, an £11m 21-year-old controlling games, in charge of midfield, defending and creating, as Tottenham enjoy a golden run of form right now.
‘Had Wenger signed Eriksen, his project would still have credibility and he would have a player ready made for Arsenal’s style.’
Durham is clearly trying to ruffle feathers and get Arsenal fans questioning Wenger’s decision to sign Ozil, but not this one.
Ozil is a world-class player – he’s proven his quality when he was at Werder Bremen and, until last summer, at Real Madrid.
Yes the German may be having a dry spell but what player doesn’t. He still has to adapt to the Premier League and I’m sure as he does we will see the best from Mesut.
Should we have signed Eriksen instead of Ozil?
Although the Dane is a young talent and would’ve come at a cheaper price, Ozil, for me, just pips him in the quality scale. Ozil is also more experienced and possesses the winning mentality having lifted trophies with Real.
Wenger may be frugal but he’s not stupid – he must have seen something in Ozil that Eriksen lacks and opted to sign the former instead of the latter.
Well at the end of season we can talk about whos the better signing when the last games played, you had bale supposedly the best player in the world where did you finish with him there ???
Adrian Durham!! I will have some of what he’s been smoking ; )