Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil’s futures clarified by Arsene Wenger

During his Huddersfield Town pre-match press conference, Arsene Wenger was asked about the futures of Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil, and his response was more than predictable:

“Yeah, I rule it [a transfer] out,” he said. “Look, I do not think every day about that. As long as they are here they have to give their best for the team and for the club. In my head, they stay until the end of the season. That’s the decision I took at the start of the season. Unless something unbelievable happens there’s no reason why that should change.”

Wenger further elaborated:

“For me, they stay until the end of the season. That’s what I decided at the start of the season. Will they stay longer? That’s impossible to answer today. I don’t know.”

In other words, nothing’s really changed. Wenger didn’t rule out extensions for either player, however, given that it was Wenger himself who said the new trend in the sport will be players leaving on free transfers as a way to leverage their situations - both from a sporting and financial standpoint - today’s comments shouldn’t suddenly make you feel Alexis and Özil will be staying any longer past this current season.