Welcome to the daily Arsenal column here at Soccerlens. We are in the middle of the ongoing international break, with most of Arsenal’s stars set to run themselves into the ground for their respective national teams, but the news concerning Arsenal keep on coming. There are interesting developments in the injury situation of Alexis Sanchez, while two starlets have been handed new deals at the club. There are other news as well, and also some transfer gossip to talk about, plus the daily social scoop.
Sanchez Injury Boost
Alexis Sanchez is one of the hottest strikers at the moment, after netting his fifth and sixth goals in the past week in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium. But some of the gloss from the Gunners’ weekend win was taken away when Sanchez had to be subbed off due to a slight groin problem. But that did not force him to miss the bus for Chile’s World Cup qualifier against Brazil tomorrow.
And there is an update on his injury situation, as Chilean publication La Tercera has revealed that there is no information of Sanchez’s injury according to reports from the Chile national team staff. This is good news for Arsenal as Arsene Wenger on Monday hoped his star would return from international duty in good shape, and there are more reasons to be optimistic now after the update.
New Deals For Iwobi, Osei-Tutu
Speculation surrounding the immediate future of forward Alex Iwobi have been rife in the past few days, but the club have quickly addressed the issue by offering a new long-term deal to the 19-year-old which he duly signed. Iwobi, who represents Nigeria, came up through the ranks at Arsenal and has underlined his first team ambitions. “The ultimate goal is to break into the first team and play as many games as I can,” he said to Arsenal’s official website.
Meanwhile, another youngster, Jordi Osei-Tutu, has also signed a new contract, although in the 17-year-old’s case, it is his first professional contract. Having joined from Reading in the summer, the England youth international finally got himself into Arsenal’s books yesterday and the versatile full-back can hope to make huge strides to make it into the first team picture in the future.
Ozil Hails Flamini Influence
Mesut Ozil is away with the Germany national team who will take on Ireland in Dublin tomorrow, and the 26-year-old has talked about his good rapport with fellow Gunner Mathieu Flamini, who isn’t quite the first team regular like the German. Even though he isn’t much of an influence on the pitch, Ozil has hailed the qualities Flamini brings to the team off the pitch.
“I have a really good understanding with Mathieu. He’s a guy who always gives 100 per cent on the pitch but when he’s off the pitch, he’s a player who makes a lot of jokes and gets on well with a lot of his team-mates. He’s just a great guy with whom I have a lot of fun. As I said, we’re just pleased to have him in this team,” Ozil said to Arsenal Player.
Transfers Round-Up
Arsenal prising away young La Masia starlets is not a new phenomenon, and this time the Gunners are making eyes on Barcelona’s Sergi Samper. But according to Metro, who have cited Spanish sources Fichajes, it is the other way round this time as Samper’s limited playing time at Camp Nou has forced the player to seek other avenues, and the 20-year-old would accept a move if Arsenal make an offer in January.
Another claim from Fichajes is that Celta Vigo forward Nolito is willing to make a move to Arsenal to link-up with fellow countrymen Santi Cazorla, Nacho Monreal, Mikel Arteta and Hector Bellerin if the Gunners follow their interest with an offer in the January transfer window. Sounds far-fetched at the moment, but we surely can’t rule anything out, can we?
Social Media Arsenal
There is nothing much to report on the social media front owing to the lack of club football action these past few days, but Mesut Ozil always manages to keep his fans happy as he posted a photo of himself looking out of his hotel room window during his stay with the Germany national team.
➡ https://t.co/ZaTkDcoOTV pic.twitter.com/ZaPfN6Nlu3
— Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) October 6, 2015
Staying with Ozil, pro-Arsenal Twitter handle afcstuff brought to light a brilliant statistic yesterday, which is bound to excite the Gooners. The statistic concerns Ozil and forward Theo Walcott, and fans will hope for more of the same from the duo after looking at the following stat.
Mesut Özil & Theo Walcott have played 1,495 minutes together, contributing 51 goals; a goal every 29.3 minutes. #afc pic.twitter.com/SEY3Y8UgX4
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) October 6, 2015
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
