The way that Arsenal have handled Alexis and Özil’s contract situations has been “almost amateurish”, according to Jamie Redknapp.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Redknapp was quick to criticise the way that Arsenal dealt with the two players. He told The Debate: “Sanchez looks like an unhappy footballer. How have Arsenal let a player of his quality get to the last year of his contract?

“That shows you what a mess the club has been in for a while, and the same goes for Ozil. These are players who should be getting tied up on long-term deals.

“I just find it incredible, and this is Arsenal we are talking about, that they are doing this, this is almost amateurish. Forget the contractual situation, when you look at the current market and what players are going for, £50m for him is cheap.”

Arsenal have actually rejected Manchester City’s £50m bid for Alexis Sanchez, so clearly the club agree with Redknapp on this last point. You’d be hard pressed to find a fan who disagrees with the idea that you want your best players on long-term contracts, not that the concept is particularly revolutionary.

So why didn’t Arsenal get it done sooner? It could be argued that the club were a bit unfortunate with Sanchez. The middle of his contract came at the end of the 2015/16 season, after a disappointing campaign for the team and the individual.

The next year was even worse in some respects, and the uncertainty around Arsène Wenger left the club with additional problems when convincing players to stay. Which brings us to the present, where he has one year left, and looks on his way out, this summer or the next.

Özil’s case it’s a bit more disappointing, however. At the end of the 2014/15 season, Arsenal had won two FA Cups in a row, were still in the Champions League, while the German international was two years into his current deal.

I can’t think of a better time to extend it than that. But they didn’t and here we are. Hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite Arsenal too hard.