This isn’t really an accurate picture of the type of person Wenger is. He’s a humanist before anything and he values human potential regardless of their allegiances in football. This aspect of his thinking has always been reflected in his management.
If he reached his best for us, Higuain.
We’ve seen what I’ll assume is close to the best of Ozil, and it’s not enough to make the difference.
If we could get consistent goals, we’d build more momentum, get more lucky escapes / sneak undeserved wins. I think it would have a better effect on our points total overall, but I think Ozil is better.
Tough call honestly… in some ways we need a WC striker more than we need Ozil, but on the other hand he is our best player and one of my favorites to watch when he is on song… I voted Ozil but if I am honest I think we maybe get more points/season with Higgy in the last 3 years.
Voted for Mesut because to me, he is a unique player, one of the best (if not the best) #10s and I just love to watch him play.
1 Like
Getting to watch Ozil play for your team is as good as trophies anyway 
4 Likes
We needed Higauin. Ozil at the time was a luxury . I love Ozil but unfortunately for us and for him we dont have enough players with the skill and intelligence to make the most of his mercurial talents.
Really not sure for us but I do believe Ozil is the better player.
Really tough question.
At the time, as ridiculous as it sounds Ozil was a type of consolation buy. Because we didn’t need an attacking midfielder or another creative type, Ozil is world class no doubt but we really needed a striker. There was a meltdown after we had a couple of bad results at the beginning of the season and on the last day we got Ozil.
In hindsight maybe Higuain would of made a larger contribution, but really and truly, A good striker and a good playmaker go hand in hand and neither can truly shine with out the other. It’s quite sad really that one of the world’s finest playmakers, talents have been wasted over the last three years.
Should of bought both!
2 Likes
We’d have done a Leeds, Portsmouth, Rangers and been in league one due to administration penalties and we would have had to sell the Emirates to the Scum!
1 Like
Cazorla got 12 goals and 12 assists the season before we signed Özil, which was his first in the country no less. There wasn’t really any need to take that no.10, main creative/attacking midfielder role from him. We could have added some more creativity in a wide role whilst not spending 40m or so doing so, and got Higuain. I did also prefer Santi playing centrally compared to when he had the left wing position (even if he was kind of only nominally left wing @AbouCuellar 
) .
Admittedly this is with hindsight, @shamrockgooner is right that Cesc ended up being available the next summer, and most likely ends up back at Arsenal seeing as we don’t have Özil. It’s an interesting Sliding Doors type moment.
Although if I remember correctly the denouement of that film is the two opposite plotlines converging and reaching the same conclusion anyway, regardless of whether that twat Gwyneth Paltrow catches the train or not.
So maybe it doesn’t matter whether we signed Higuain or Ozil, because we would have ended up right where we are anyway.
Because Wenger is the one driving the train.
/thread
3 Likes
First time Wenger’s had a number 1 on him in years.
1 Like
Not true we most certainly were after Higauin and as usual had agreed terms with him and his brother who is his agent . his dad even flew to london and the deal was on but as ive written here loud n long arsenal backtracked on the money after trevez went to juve dragged their heels trying to get the price down thinking they were the only game in town and got gazumped when napoli sold cavani and dived in for higauin. Have you noticed a pattern yet . For reasons that are known only to Law and Wenger they think leaving it late yilds bagains .
1 Like
Higuain. Pure goal scorer that isn’t as one dimensional as some of the previous strikers we’ve recently had. I would trust Wenger enough to have signed a decent #10 or Ramsey may well have developed into a better player in that free role.
Özil has definitely been one of my favourite ever Arsenal signings though. So I’m pleased in one way that we do have him 
Good point.
But thank the fuck goodness, we didn’t sign Cesc.
He has changed.
Also it might have been one between him and Alexis as barca wouldn’t have sold us two players at the same time and I doubt if we’d have spent 60million in 1 window.
Why not? If they’re selling both Alexis and Fabregas anyway why would they give a toss if they both joined Arsenal or if one of them went to a different club?
Also remember that if we had Higuain then signing Welbeck would have been very unlikely, so that already covers half of Alexis or Fabregas’ transfer fee. Though this is Wenger were talking about so you might be right.
We spent £86 million the summer we signed Alexis so your theory that we wouldn’t spend £60m in a summer doesn’t hold any weight.
[quote=“JakeyBoy, post:36, topic:550, full:true”]
Why not? If they’re selling both Alexis and Fabregas anyway why would they give a toss if they both joined Arsenal or if one of them went to a different club? [/quote]
Very rarely do clubs do this kind of business and while we may not be direct rivals, it definitely strengthens a potential champions league rival in theory.
What I had meant was spend 60 million on two players (2 marquee signings) in one window, perhaps I should have made it clearer when I first posted.
Also didn’t we spend about £75mil not £86 and if I recall correctly and a large chunk of it was spent on replacing departed or injured players.
And while the transfer fee is important, the picture is completely different turn when you account for wages. We certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford two high waged players in the same window. (Unrelated topic - but this is the reason that the argument for ‘we should spend on signings cause we the 150mio in the bank’ makes no sense at all)
We certainly could afford to sign two high wage players. Especially when we pay Theo Walcott premium wages.
1 Like
Higuain signing followed by Fabregas could have been surreal. Both however being perennial bottlers might not have yielded the results we hope for.
Ozil however is one of a kind, and despite the team being largely unbalanced due to his inclusion, as well as a tad ineffective without an appropriate striker. He is simply one of the greatest to ever wear the shirt. I could never wish for Higuain over him.
Suarez however…
Perhaps if by some miracle the dominos fall favourably again and we grab ourselves a world class striker this summer. We might at long last see what our #10 is truely capable of.
Any combination of Higuain and another #10 would (imo) be inferior to Ozil and a world class #9.
Edit: I will add that, I believe Higuain could likely have won us the league last season. But that would have been more of a ‘by default’ title (not that it matters, winning is winning and we are in no position to turn down a league title).
But I am still unfaltering in my belief that Ozil is the better player for us in the long run and the one I would have chosen. If the correct additions are made, i believe it would result in a far stronger and more capable squad.
3 Likes