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Football

30th Dec 2017

‘They’ve been over-indulged and spoiled’ – Martin Keown on Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez

Jack O'Toole

The performances of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have been a consistent source of scrutiny during their time together at Arsenal.

Both players are among the very best that Arsenal have to offer, however, both players are also off contract at the end of this season.

Their uncertain futures in North London has led to widespread speculation that Arsenal may look to offload one, if not both players, for fear that they may walk for free during the summer.

Former Arsenal captain Martin Keown said that both players have been spoiled during their time at the Emirates and that manager Arsene Wenger may reflect on this period as the most difficult of his entire managerial career.

“I feel they have been over indulged, both him and Ozil,” said Keown on BBC’s Football Focus.

“I’ve made the analogy of young kids – when you go out in public they’re going to let you down if you spoil them too much – and I think they’ve been spoiled.

“They’ve been over-indulged and at times they’ve been petulant. They have turned the tap on and off, and these two are capable of doing that, within a whole 90 minutes.

“In the Liverpool game, the previous one, Sanchez was rubbish and then suddenly was brilliant.

“It’s difficult for Wenger. He’ll look back at this as his most difficult period of his managerial career, trying to get these two on the pitch each week. He needs to keep them there until the end of the season.”

Sanchez has been linked with a move to Real Madrid while Ozil has reportedly been targeted by Barcelona.

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