You have to go back to 2016 to find a really good headline concerning Arsenal’s wasteful playmaker Mesut Özil. He was the star that evening with a hat trick in a 6-0 win against Ludogorets and a contract extension was a formality. The reason for his rich vein of form back was Alexis Sanchez.
Sanchez and Özil seemed to get the best out of each other and it’s surely no coincidence that when they parted company, neither was the same again.
Özil has struggled desperately and without the Chilean, he has never really reached the heights he achieved. There has been the odd performance that’s caught the eye, flashes of form, and the odd ‘ooo’ moment but sadly, instead of his stock rising sharply after that October night in 2016, Özil has gone in the opposite direction.
It’s now become painful to watch as Arsenal and Özil resemble a married couple on the brink of separation. Neither wants to be seen as the one to draw up the divorce papers but next year, both will head in different directions as they have predictably done for the last three seasons.
It appears that playmaker Mesut Özil has once again fallen short with another manager and can’t command a place in Arteta’s side. It was Emery before that and he only played for Wenger when he felt like it.
It’s time to stop gunning for Özil and just accept that the game is up. The middle of next year will see the German leave on a free for pastures new. He may play again this campaign, he may feature in the next but, the clock is ticking.
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Özil has proved a problem and a distraction for some time, without giving value for money in return. That’s probably the most frustrating factor of this entire saga, Arsenal had someone who had so much ability, but they couldn’t get the best out of him consistently.
This week on social media, playmaker Mesut Özil was compared to the legendary Dennis Bergkamp. You can imagine my response. The printable version is ‘I don’t think so’.
