|
LONDON -- Arsene Wenger has refused to confirm whether Arsenal have offered him a new two-year contract as he brushed off more questions about his future, but reiterated that he thinks Alexis Sanchez wants to stay at the club. Wenger's long-term future remains unresolved as he has yet to decide whether to remain in charge of Arsenal when his current contract expires this summer. And while several reports have claimed that Arsenal have offered him a two-year deal, the 67-year-old deflected repeated questions at his news conference on Friday about whether a new contract is on the table. "I cannot tell you anything more than what I said many times," Wenger said ahead of Monday's game against Crystal Palace. "I can understand that the subject is maybe of interest, but for me what is of interest is what's happening on the football pitch." Wenger dodged another line of questioning about his future earlier on in the news conference by saying that he would be scoring "an own goal" by making an announcement at this point. He has hinted strongly in the past that he wants to stay at the club, but fan protests have been growing in recent weeks amid a run of poor results. Club chairman Sir Chips Keswick and CEO Ivan Gazidis have said a decision will be taken "mutually" with Wenger and announced "at the right time." And Wenger said any announcement will be made by the club when things are finalised, not by him. Arsenal face plenty of uncertainty going into the summer as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil have yet to commit their long-term futures to the club, with Sanchez the subject of constant speculation about a move away from the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal have shelved contract talks with the duo until after the season ends, with their deals set to expire next summer, but Wenger remains hopeful that solutions will be found. "I believe that [Sanchez] basically wants to stay at the club, and it's down to finding an agreement with his agent," Wenger said. Ozil returned to form in Wednesday's 3-0 win over West Ham, scoring Arsenal's opening goal and setting up the second for Theo Walcott. The Germany international had been criticised for his poor displays recently, and Wenger said after that game that the playmaker had been "hit hard" mentally by the Champions League loss to Bayern Munich in the round of 16 this season. "What I wanted to say in that is that people often reproach [Ozil] by saying that he doesn't care because of his style of play, but he cares much more than people think he does," Wenger said. "Because he is very ambitious and he wants to win the Champions League. He's come out many times saying that. "If you look at the two games [against Bayern] and take the first 45 minutes of the two games, we were qualified but then went out in such an emphatic way. It was difficult to take for everybody and maybe even more for him because it's a big part of his ambition." Sanchez has been criticised this season for letting his frustrations show too much on the pitch when things are not going well for the team, which has increased the speculation that he is unhappy at the club. But right-back Hector Bellerin talked up Sanchez's body language as a positive and said he helps spur on his teammates. "He's a leader, we have loads of leaders in the dressing room but he's the first one to get frustrated," Bellerin told Arsenal's official website. "Everyone sees that when he's not happy he's very expressive. Some people don't show it as much as him, but when we lose or things don't go well everyone gets frustrated. "I think the mentality in the team -- even though some people don't express it -- it's the same one. Everyone wants to win, everyone wants to do their best but sometimes things don't work. But it's true that Alexis is a true fighter, he's got a great winning mentality and that's why things are going so well for him."
|
