Ex-Gunners boss fears German's plummeting form is down to contract extension - but says he would cost £100m to replace
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ARSENE WENGER fears Mesut Ozil's Arsenal fallout is because he is in his "comfort zone" after signing a "lucrative" £350,000-a-week contract.
Months of the ex-Gunners boss' pleas saw Ozil, 30, finally put pen to paper on a deal lasting until 2021 last February.
But that victory has now turned sour with new manager Unai Emery telling him he is not wanted after repeatedly leaving the German out of his squad.
Wenger, 69, said: "I feel the length of the contract has nothing to do normally with the selection of the first team.
"But sometimes you have special cases that I don’t want to interfere in.
"Most of the time, we think when we sign a player for five years 'now we have a good player for five years'.
"But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they play their best. Because it’s a bit inviting them to be in the comfort zone."
Wenger insists had he not persuaded Ozil to sign a new deal the club would have had to splurge £100million to replace him.
Speaking at a Q+A at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco, the Frenchman said: "You want to buy the same kind of player than Ozil you have to spend £100m.
"To retain the value of the player beyond the Ozil case, it’s more about the way football is structured nowadays.
"To buy players of top, top quality you need £100m.
"So the decision you always have to make is: 'Do we extend the player who cost us nothing, a top-class player? Or do we have real money to buy a player?'
"It’s not much less expensive and you spend that kind of money."
