John Dykes " A gooner, Gonner, Or Gunner

An International Break can do funny things to the mind. Mine, for instance, was heavily engaged this past week wondering whether we have seen the last (for the time being at least) of Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech, David De Gea and Juan Mata in the Barclays Premier League. I know, it seems crazy to contemplate losing some of the finest talent to have graced this country in recent times but the last fortnight has seen an increase in speculation about the futures of all four. Over here, and out there on the Web, newspapers have been chock-full of stories about these prospective moves as well as columns offering provocative opinions on… on what precisely? Speculation? A Daily Mail columnist, notorious for his “click-baiting” style of column-writing (he deals in outrageously provocative, opinionated pieces just to get readers clicking on the article), accused Ozil of being a “bottle job” if he leaves Arsenal. A bottle job is a coward by the way. And that’s not a very nice thing to say. So, are there any grounds for even thinking of leveling that accusation at the German? Let’s consider the “story” first. It seems only yesterday that Mesut Ozil arrived in this country in an uncharacteristically bombastic move by Arsenal. A record fee was paid, Real Madrid colleagues were said to feel let down by his departure, and the player promptly started his career here with a bang. A season and a bit on, Ozil is injured after a patchy start to this campaign and Monday’s newspapers reported that an unnamed “source” had said the player is unhappy with the way he has been deployed by Arsene Wenger and is therefore the subject of speculation. The same articles suggested Ozil could be the subject of a £30m bid from Bayern Munich during the next transfer window?

So, will he be off in January? Would Arsenal let him go should such an offer come in? “No,” was the resounding answer from journalists Raphael Honigstein and Matt Scott when we discussed the matter on Wednesday’s Football Today. Ordinarily that would have been good enough for me to say, “No story here. Move along please.” Yet Wenger’s insistence at Thursday’s Arsenal Annual General Meeting that he would try to bring a player to the club in January, allied to Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis’s assertion that the club doesn’t have a “huge pile” of transfer funds available, revived my interest in the Ozil exit theory. Most experts feel the player Arsenal want to bring in come January is Borussia Dortmund’s superb central defender Mats Hummels. He won’t come cheap – especially as there is said to be stiff competition for his signature. So, would a club as innately conservative financially as Arsenal feel more comfortable buying the player with funds raised by the sale of another? Probably. As much as they may want to bring in defensive midfielder Sami Khedira from Real and the exciting Julian Draxler from Schalke, the only way that could realistically happen would be if the club sold off an asset.It would still be a surprise, and a disappointment, to see a World Cup winner of Ozil’s pedigree leave in January but it may not be entirely out of the question. His injury makes it less likely but the player did look like someone in need of a rest anyway after his World Cup exertions. Would a return to a league that offers a Winter Break appeal to him? One suspects it might.A return to his native city may be at the root of the week’s other truly surprising story about Manchester United ‘keeper David De Gea supposedly being keen to move to Real Madrid in January.With Iker Casillas likely to pay the price for making one high-profile mistake too many and summer signing Keylor Navas not favoured, it would seem the desire may be there from Real to capture the young Spaniard who has become highly rated by those who follow United.Marca newspaper, the Real Madrid mouthpiece, has been highly vocal about the club’s interest (suggesting a £25 million bid), so this could turn out to be a stern test of resolve for Louis van Gaal and his board. Buying “Galacticos” is one thing – keeping a player who has grown in stature and confidence at Carrington is another. The player’s contract at United runs out in 2016 and time is getting tight if the club has to negotiate his new deal in the face of these Spanish overtures. This was one of this week’s newspaper stories that actually looked as if it had some “legs”. Of course, United’s cause could be helped, twice over, should Chelsea’s Petr Cech decide that being back-up to youngster Thibault Courtois is not for him any more. Should the Czech goalie want to move in January, Madrid could do a lot worse than to bring in one of the world’s finest. Messrs Honigstein and Scott said they could see the sense in such a move. Still with Manchester United, their fans have hardly had enough time to form a real emotional bond with Juan Mata and they may not have much longer. Both of my journalist guests this week, and all the others I have spoken to, reckon the Spaniard could find himself involved in a swap deal in January – just a year after he arrived at Old Trafford. Vidal is said to be unsettled at the Turin club and has suffered off-the-pitch problems lately. He has not seemed hugely keen on a move to England in the past, so Spain might turn out to be his next home. The British press reckons such a deal could involve Juventus’ combative Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal but the English club’s hopes of landing the player could be thwarted by, guess who? Yes Real Madrid, who look likely to lose the services of Sami Khedira, who may be heading to Chelsea.

So where does that leave Mata? Out in the cold most likely. But, you know what, I’m done with speculating. The football’s on again this weekend and the newspapers will be full of match reports, features and facts. Those are things I’ll gladly click on time and again.

sunday oliseh