Mesut Ozil Arsenal
Will Mesut Ozil leave Arsenal or sign a new contract?Reuters

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are ready to make a move for Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil. The Germany international is locked in contract talks with the Premier League club, but if a deal fails to materialise, the two European giants are willing to pounce.

Ozil has been an asset to this Arsenal team since making a deadline day move in the summer of 2013, and while he has the penchant to go missing every once in a while, there is little doubt that Arsenal are a better team when the German is in the playing XI.

With his current contract ending in the summer of 2018, Arsenal have begun talks with the player, and Alexis Sanchez, whose deal also runs out in the same year, but all parties are yet to come to a resolution.

Ozil and Sanchez, according to reports, are demanding a salary of £250,000 a month, and considering that will make them the biggest earners at the club by some distance, it will be interesting to see if Arsenal give the go-ahead.

The Gunners can be extremely tight with their finances, more often than not frustratingly so while hiding under the responsible-financial-club cloak, but it is clear that if clubs are to compete for titles at the highest level nowadays on a consistent basis, money, and spending it, is necessary.

When Arsenal announced their revenue recently one of the things that the chairman Chips Keswick said was that some of the money that the club have lying around will be used to lock players in to long-term contracts.

Ozil and Sanchez are two of the most important players in this Arsenal squad, and the sooner their long-term futures are resolved, the better it is for the club.

If things don't go according to plan, though, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are willing to match Ozil's demands and make him their player, according to the Daily Express.

Arsenal, of course, will not want that, so they will, no doubt, use all their negotiating skills to ensure Ozil and Sanchez sign new contracts with the club.