Mesut Özil says that his preference would “definitely” be to sign a new contract at Arsenal. The midfielder has entered the final 12 months of his £140,000-a-week deal and, in the absence of offers from any of the European clubs who could meet his wage demands, he is set to stay at Emirates Stadium for the upcoming season. The bigger issue has been whether Özil will re-sign at the club he joined from Real Madrid for £42.5m in 2013, with one of his options being to wait until January 2018 to see whether he gets a lucrative pre-contract offer from an overseas club relating to a free agent move in the summer. Arsenal, though, have worked hard to put forward an attractive deal of their own, which is worth a basic £280,000 a week. So far it has been a waiting game, with Özil keen to keep his options open as he moves into the new season. “It is definitely my preference to stay,” Özil said, at Arsenal’s launch of their new third kit in Sydney. “It is such a great club and I...