Arsenal join the chase for Dortmund's Mkhitaryan

Seems like Arsenal aren't alone in wanting the Dortmund star.

One of this spring's hottest transfer stories has been who will secure the services of Dortmund's Henrik Mkhitaryan this summer. Teams have coveted him for a while, and now, unsurprisingly, Arsenal has reportedly joined that race.

Mkhitaryan seems to want to move to London, which would seem to mean that his choice would be between Arsenal and Chelsea because he's never going to sign for West Ham now is he. As of right now, only one of those teams can offer Champions League football, so that would seem to give Arsenal an edge - as long as that remains true. But Chelsea have a lot more resources they can throw at Mkhitaryan, so....who knows.

Either way, this summer promises to be full of wacky fun like this, so stay tuned - we all know how this song has gone in years past, and all we can do now is hope that the song is different this year.

Ozil: "No hurry" on contract negotiations

Arsenal's star playmaker Mesut Ozil spoke to the German branch of Goal.com mostly about the Euros and the German National Team, but there were Arsenal tidbits to be had.

Arsenal's primary source of inflated xG statistics, Mesut Ozil, gave an interview to the German-language Goal.com today. Although it primarily concerned the upcoming Euros and the German National Team, the 27-year-old did provide some thoughts about Arsenal, his form, and his contract negotiations. Here's what he had to say, with translation coming by way of Arseblog and Google Translate:

There are rumours linking you with Barcelona and delayed contract negotiations with Arsenal. Will you be playing in London next year?

There’s no hurry [on the contract]. I have two years left. At the end of the season we’ll see how it [the talks] go.

Arsenal are currently fourth in the table, is it a successful season given Leicester look like they’ll win the Premier League?

If we finish third and qualify directly for the Champions League [group stages] we’ll have at least achieved our minimum target. But this season it was possible to be champions, but we’ve left too many points on the table when playing smaller teams.

Would you have believed it if someone had said Leicester would be leading the table at this point?

I definitely would not have believed it. Nobody would have believed it. You can only take your hat off to Leicester. They’ve played every match giving 100% and are rightly at the top.

You were nominated for the Player of the Year award and are just two assists short of breaking the Premier League record, what do such accolades mean to you?

I’m proud of what I’ve done this season, but I never put the emphasis on personal awards, the team’s success is more important to me.

You’re 27 now, some of your teammates retired from the national team at 29 or ended their careers, have you given thought to what you’ll do after your playing career?

I hope I have a few more years to go. When I feel that I am playing my last season, I’ll have more concrete ideas, that when it’ll be the right time to think about itRight now would be the time. I enjoy that I have my hobby as a profession. What I know is that I will continue playing football after my career. Whether it’s in ‘the monkey cage’ [where he played in Gelsenkirchen as a child] or whatever, I couldn’t care less. I’ll never stop playing football.

Is there still a major career goal for you?

Privately, I think I’ll definitely return to Germany [to live]. There I feel at home, there’s my family. Sportingly, much is possible. I’m not saying that I definitely must again return to the Bundesliga or playing in Turkey. But I do not rule it out either. Maybe I’ll finish my career in England.

He certainly leaves the door open, but I still think the worries over "stalled" negotiations in the last couple of weeks are overblown. If there's a worry, it's over our inability to capitalize on the weakness of the current league and, likewise, his teammates' ability to take advantage of his terrific chance-creation rate and fire him well past that Premier League assist record. I think he will stay, but this summer could be a bit more nail-bitey than we'd have liked.

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Cesc Fabregas: Antonio Conte has “proven” his ability at Juventus

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas believes that Antonio Conte has “proven” his credentials as a successful manager during his time at Juventus.

With interim boss Guus Hiddink due to leave at the end of the season, it has been confirmed that Conte will take over after leading Italy to the European Championships this summer.

The appointment has been greeted positively by most quarters and Chelsea fans are excited to see what he can do next season.

In his final season with Juventus, 2013/14, Conte oversaw an outstanding record of 33 wins in 38 Serie A matches.

Speaking to German outlet Sport1 (via the London Evening Standard), Fabregas was enthusiastic about Chelsea’s future under the Italian: “We must come back stronger.

“I hope that we can compete for the title in England next year. It will be the first time in years I won’t play Champions League.

“In Antonio Conte there will be a new manager. He has proven that he can work successfully, especially at Juventus he had a strong time.”

Fabregas was one of the players to come in for a lot of criticism from fans earlier this term, but his performances have improved tremendously since Hiddink took charge.

During the 4-1 win over Bournemouth last Saturday, Fabregas laid on three assists for his teammates, to take his tally for the league season up to seven.

Some fans have even started to speak about the Spaniard as a potential captain should Conte decide that he doesn’t want to keep current skipper John Terry at the club.

The move would certainly be an interesting one, after Fabregas captained Arsenal during his time in north London, but some would speculate that Fabregas isn’t even guaranteed a starting role next season given his patchy form of 2015/16.