Unai Emery wants the Arsenal board to find an exit route for Mesut Ozil to free up transfer funds for making January reinforcements. Ozil was snubbed by Emery in Arsenal’s recent shock away defeat at the London Stadium.
In fact, the German playmaker has been absent from Arsenal’s match day squads on a number of occasions this season.
Unai Emery’s decision to leave Mesut Ozil out of the squad against West Ham would have surprised many, considering that the Gunner’s have only managed to take in two points from their last five Premier League outings. Also, including teenager Eddie Nketiah instead of the German certainly raised some eyebrows.
Ozil, who earns around 3,50,000 pounds a week, is the highest paid player in the Arsenal roster. The club is yet to receive an interesting offer for the German ace who had previously made it clear that he does not wish to leave them. Also, 3,50,000 pound wage bill would discourage any potential suitors to go for him in the January Market.
Emery’s reply towards a question on why he left out Ozil would have erased any dwindling hopes among fans of the Arsenal star who might wish to see him stay at the club.
“For me he is like another player,”
“It’s one decision, when one player is coming or not coming. Sometimes he is helping us, at other moments he is not helping us because of his injury or because maybe the match is not for him. But he is a good player”
Emery’s decision to leave Mesut Ozil out was lambasted by Arsenal legend Ian Right.
“For Ozil not to be in the (matchday squad of) 18, whatever’s going on with him, I can’t get my head around that.”
“I think he should be given the opportunity to play himself into form or out of form – we cannot afford to have arguably the highest-paid player in Arsenal’s history not even in the 18.”
The German Maestro himself reacted to the West Ham snub by posting on social media with a picture of him exercising with the exciting caption.
“No matter what … put in the work.”
No matter what … put in the work 💪🏼 #M1Ö #YaGunnersYa @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/deLxWVaUlt
— Mesut Özil (@M10) January 14, 2019
Unai Emery’s ambitious plan to bring his former player Denis Suarez to the Emirates has stalled in recent weeks. With Barcelona in favor of a permanent transfer for their player instead of a loan deal, Emery is keen to see the back of the former German player.
Much earlier this season, Mesut Ozil was omitted for Arsenal’s home match against the Hammers due to a reported illness. According to Daily Mail, the player was mingling with other members of the Arsenal squad just an hour before the game.
Similarly, Emery was quoted as saying ‘physicality and intensity’ when Ozil was excluded for the Bournemouth game. In the same press conference, Greek defender Sokratis mentioned the team’s lack of players who can make that final pass.
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Here, he was indirectly pointing to the fact that there was no other Arsenal player who possessed the same excellent passing skills as Mesut Ozil. Sokratis said:
“It is not about the two shots on target. Look at how many chances we would have had if we had done better with the last pass. This is the problem.”
Emery agreed that it would be much more difficult for Arsenal to break into the top four.
“Now it’s more difficult, it’s clear. The most important thing for us is to recover our confidence.”
