Wenger wants trophies

LONDON. — Arsene Wenger has said he will walk away from Arsenal if the club fail to win a trophy this season.
The 63-year-old’s contract expires in June 2014 and there has been speculation over whether the Frenchman will stay on at the club.
Arsenal have not won any silverware since 2005 and Wenger says there are ‘‘no new talks planned’’.
The pressure is on Wenger to deliver results and the £42.5million signing of Mesut Ozil has only increased expectations.
‘‘There are no new talks planned. At the end I will decide how well I’ve done for this club. You judge a manager on how well he does with the team,’’ said Wenger

‘‘We are not in hurry. We are in September, my contract expires in June. There’s a long way to go.’’
The Gunners face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light tomorrow and are suffering from a striker shortage after an injury to Yaya Sanogo left Olivier Giroud as the only recognised centre-forward.

Wenger is expected to hand an eagerly-anticipated debut to Ozil and, while the Arsenal boss refused to confirm his inclusion, he believes the German can become a ‘‘dominant’’ player in the Premier League.

‘‘Ozil is at a good age, he is already a great player. There is room for him to become dominant and step up,’ said Wenger.
‘‘I haven’t decided whether he will play against Sunderland.’’

Arsenal sealed the deal for Ozil with a telephone call from Wenger in German and the Gunners boss revealed that he tried to sign the midfielder when he first moved to Real Madrid.

That move failed but Wenger believes it left a good first impression on the 24-year-old.
‘‘We speak in German. When Mesut  went to Real Madrid we were already in touch back then, I wanted to get him to Arsenal,’’ added Wenger.
‘‘I didn’t get him but that was the start of the relationship. The second time it worked — and I think the first contact really helped.’’
The deal was completed on deadline day after Gareth Bale sealed his world record move to the Bernabeu.

The Welshman’s £86m switch meant Madrid needed to offload some players and Ozil was the biggest name to be shown the door.
‘‘I wouldn’t say signing Ozil was easy. It was very complicated because the timing was short. On Sunday, just before the Tottenham game, I thought we had managed to do it. We were 90 per cent there. What’s important for us is to find world class players and there aren’t many around. Honestly, I think it was linked with the Bale transfer. I don’t know why Madrid sold him — was it financial reasons? Was it because they had to let somebody go? I was surprised, yes.

‘‘Of course (it’s a statement). We had to go through some years with restricted financial potential and the target was to stay in the Champions League during this period. We were able to do it and now we are strong financially.’’

Ozil’s family are threatening to sue Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez over claims that a relationship with a South American beauty queen was affecting the midfielder’s form at the Bernabeu. Ozil’s father Mustafa launched a blistering attack on Perez, as his son was unveiled as Arsenal’s record signing and trained at London Colney, and confirmed that legal action against the Real president was under review.

He hit out amid Spanish newspaper reports claiming that Perez felt Ozil’s performances for Real had suffered due to his liaisons with former Miss Venezuela, Aida Yespica.

Ozil Snr was also angered by suggestions that personal greed on his part had been behind the Germany play-maker’s big-money move from Madrid to the Emirates.

‘‘It is clear Perez is not a man of honour,’’ he fumed. ‘‘He may have a lot of money, but that does not make him an honourable person.
‘‘He tries to pretend that Mesut has not lived a professional lifestyle in Madrid and that I am a father who is only interested in money. Both are completely untrue, and that is why I am thinking of suing.

‘‘We will consider all steps. The lawyers will check whether it would make sense to take this further, and then we will decide on whether to take legal action.

‘‘He wants to turn Mesut into a scapegoat and portray me as the greedy parent, when nothing could be further from the truth. We are ready to defend ourselves, because all I want is what is best for my son. That has always been my outlook and always will be.’’

Speaking after his first Arsenal training session, Ozil said: ‘‘I don’t want to say anything bad about Madrid because I had three wonderful years there and we achieved some trophies.

‘‘The people who know me know how professional I am. I’ve played 159 games — if you are not professional you can’t do that. All the rumours, I don’t care about them. I have a new task and I’m looking ahead.

‘‘I’m still trying to find a flat or a house. I’ve only been here for two days.’’ — Mailonline.