Arsene Wenger tells Arsenal contract rebel Mesut Ozil to raise his game and score more goals
Gunners boss was unhappy to hear his top earner say he will only stay once he knows who the manager will be next season
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ARSENE WENGER has told Arsenal contract rebel Mesut Ozil that he needs to raise his game and score more goals.
The Gunners boss was not impressed when Ozil vowed this week he will NOT sign a new deal until he knows who the manager will be next season.
Now he wants the club’s highest-paid player to earn his wages by doing his talking on the pitch.
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Wenger said: “We all feel there is a gap between what he can do and what he is doing.
“What I want of him is to score goals. With such a talent, you feel there should be no limitation to his game.
“So you always think ‘come on, give us more’. There is always a feeling he can do more.
“It’s not a frustration for me, more of a target. We are all human beings who can improve every day.
“Football can sometimes make you a bit comfortable but 99 per cent comes from the player.
“How much does he want it and how much is he ready to put the effort in to get better?”
Ozil, 28, was widely criticised for his half-hearted showings in the recent losses at Everton and Manchester City.
Now he is under pressure to deliver when he returns to action at Swansea today after missing Arsenal’s last three games with a virus.
Wenger will not be pushed into making an early announcement over his long-term future.
He said: “Mesut would like to know what happens on the managerial front but I don’t think that’s the main part of his decision.
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“It’s part of the negotiations but there are many other ingredients and, hopefully, we will find a conclusion with him very quickly.
“But he still has 18 months to go, which is a very long time in football. So I am very relaxed about the situation.
“You can only show a player how much you want him to stay and after that he has to make a decision which you have to accept.
“Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud and Francis Coquelin signed new contracts this week and they did not ask for any assurances about the manager — so they must think I am staying here.
“But I have nothing to say on my own future apart from the fact that I am completely focused on getting us back to the top.
“Alex Ferguson said I was a good poker player when we were negotiating a deal for Robin van Persie. Maybe he was right.”