Ozil out for three months

LONDON. — Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil has been ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a knee injury. The 25-year-old midfielder, who is on international duty with Germany, played 90 minutes in Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on Sunday.
But he arrived at the German camp with a problem in his left knee and an MRI scan in Munich on Wednesday showed damage to the joint.

The Gunners are already without injured midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta .

A statement on the German Football Association website read: “The MRI examination revealed a partial rupture of the outer band of the left knee joint.

“The treatment is . . . six weeks of immobilisation of the knee joint. Mesut Ozil is likely to be out (for) 10 to 12 weeks.”

If the diagnosis is correct, it means Ozil may not be available to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger until after Christmas.

The play-maker signed from Real Madrid for a club record £42,4m in September 2013 and has scored eight goals in 46 starts.

He has been criticised for some of his performances, but helped the Gunners win the FA Cup last season — the club’s first trophy in nine years.

Ozil will miss Germany’s Euro 2016 qualifiers against Poland on Saturday and the Republic of Ireland next Tuesday.

He is also almost certainly out of the national team’s fixtures against Gibraltar and Spain in November.

Meanwhile, Wenger reportedly rejected an approach from Bayern Munich for Ozil this summer.

According to Spanish publication El Confidencial, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola wanted to recruit the Germany midfielder while he was previously in charge of Barcelona, but the 25-year-old instead completed a move to rivals Real Madrid.

It is claimed that Guardiola made an enquiry about signing Ozil this summer, however, Arsenal refused to part with the midfielder because the Bundesliga club’s offer was much lower than the £42.4million that The Gunners paid to sign the player from Real.

The report suggests that Bayern’s offer would have allowed Arsenal to re-sign Cesc Fabregas from Barca, but Wenger’s pride and loyalty towards Ozil caused any prospective deal to collapse.

Ozil — who has been criticised by fans and the media for some underwhelming performances in recent months – has scored one goal and has one assist so far this season while Fabregas has created seven goals for Chelsea as well as having scored once.

And Wenger is set to splash the cash again in January and could spend up to £60m bolstering his squad.

Wenger spent over £70m on FIVE big-name additions during the summer.

Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, David Opsina and Danny Welbeck all arrived at the Emirates Stadium.

It was the Frenchman’s largest outlay in the transfer market for some time and he could be set to do it all over again in the new year.

Arsenal, according to reports in Spain, have agreed personal terms with Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira over a switch to the club.

The Gunners will pay the Germany World Cup winner a whopping £100 000-a-week.

However they must now attempt to agree a fee with Madrid for the 27-year-old.

Khedira has entered the final year of his contract at the Bernabeu and Madrid president Florentino Perez wants to cash-in on him during the winter transfer window.

Arsenal have also joined the race to sign Benfica midfield starlet Anderson Talisca.

Brazilian Talisca has impressed during the opening weeks of the season and has been a driving force behind Benfica’s unbeaten start.

The 20-year-old is currently the top scorer in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, having hit six goals in seven games.

That form has caught the eye of Wenger.

Reports suggest Arsenal scouts were in the crowd to watch Talisca in action at the weekend as Benfica defeated Arouca.

Talisca, who only moved from Brazilian club Bahia to Benfica in July for a fee in the region of £3m, is understood to have a £18m buyout clause inserted into his contract.

Wenger is also weighing up whether to revive his pursuit of Schalke whizz kid Julian Draxler.

The Gunners wanted to sign the midfielder last January, but Wenger baulked at his £37m buyout clause.

But if Wenger does decide to renew his interest in Draxler, he will more than likely have to stump up all £37m of that buyout clause to get his man. — BBC Sport.