Arsenal Rumors: Ozil Status Hinges On Gunners Activity This January Transfer Window

Time is ticking for Arsenal as far as figuring out what to do with Mesut Ozil.

The German defender has yet to play a single game for the Gunners this season, but a clearer picture could be forthcoming.

The 32-year-old’s fate may depend on whether Arsenal can take in an attacking midfielder this January transfer window.

Arsenal is expected to exhaust all means to take in the right player to address their manpower needs. Several names have been suggested, but it all boils down to how the Gunners can do with the available budget they have.

One name that comes to mind is Julian Brandt of Borussia Dortmund.

Acquiring Brandt makes sense although money matters stand in the way. The 24-year-old carries a hefty tag worth £36.12m (roughly $49.11 million), something that is beyond what the Gunners can afford, Sky Sports reported.

A good way to afford that is to offload Ozil and his monstrous weekly £350,000 ($476,000) wages.

In a previous post, a team that comes close to possibly taking the German off Arsenal’s hands is Fenerbahce. The only problem is that the highly-touted defender prefers to stay in Europe and finish his current deal.

Aside from that, Ozil was linked to a potential move to Major League Soccer (MLS). D.C. United and LA Galaxy are said to be interested in the German, but nothing has gone beyond speculations.

Rather than look at younger players this January transfer window, there is also a chance that Arteta may be left with no recourse but to play Ozil.

According to Sky Sports News’ Dharmesh Sheth, the Gunners could decide on Ozil by the final half of the January transfer window.

"If it transpires that they can't offload enough players to free up enough wages to bring in someone from abroad, then l don't think you can rule out Mesut Ozil perhaps finding some sort of role at Arsenal in the final six months of his contract,” the pundit said.

The ideal scenario would be to take in a player in exchange for Ozil. But so far, nothing close to that has happened.

Hence, the possibility of seeing the German play after the transfer window is a possibility. The current transfer window is open until Monday, February 1, at 11 pm.