World cup winning German midfielder and Arsenal FC highest earner, Mesut Özil will stay out of action for the Gunners, until at least January.
After being left out of the Europa League squad about only a fortnight ago, Mesut Özil will also now officially not participate in the Premier League for Arsenal, as he doesn’t appear on the 25-man list that will be submitted to the English FA. Not until next year in the January transfer window can Özil feature for the North London club again, when reversible changes can be implemented.
For keen followers of football, moreso the EPL, such a decision could honestly not be unexpected, the club’s desperate search for a number 10 in the summer transfer window ideally suggested the dire need of replacing the German at the Emirates, it was a signal that aroused so much anticipation about Özil’s future at London based club.
It’s a genuine speculation therefore that not only will Özil miss out for Arsenal for the coming fee months, but he might as well never play for Arsenal ever again!
And the fact that Ozil has not featured for Arsenal in any competition this season hinted on the possible “end” of his time at the club.
Mesut Özil is still under contract at Arsenal for the next 8 Months, and will still remain the club’s top earner at £350K per week for the rest of the season.
Greek veteran defender, Sokratis Papastathoupoulos is the other foreign senior player expected to be left out. Sokratis, like the German international was also not named to the Europa League roster either.
The Gunners apparently have 19 non-homegrown players, having added in Ghanaian Thomas Partey from Atletico, Brazilian midfielder Willian from London rivals Chelsea and another Brazilian Gabriel Magalhaēs from French outfit Lille.
Arsenal can only nominate 17 of the foreign players to fulfill the 25-man squad, with the remaining 8 having to be homegrown, according to the English FA requirements. As a result, both Özil and Sokratis have been sacrificed, and they will not make the final squad.
Per Mertesacker, the Arsenal academy chief and former teammate to Özil revealed that Özil’s priorities might’ve shifted to his family.
He said, “A lot has changed for Ozil away from the field, he got married, has a family. Perhaps his focus has changed. Nevertheless, he is still happy and happy to play football”
“He’s the only player I’ve played with for three teams – Bremen, Arsenal and also at the DFB (Germany). So I’m very sorry that he’s currently in a situation where he’s not really used,” he added.
Theoretically, Özil who joined Arsenal as the record signing could still leave the club, the MLS transfer window is still open until October 29th and there are several clubs interested in signing the German. But Ozil, who last featured for Arsenal in March against West Ham in which he assisted the winner after featuring in the past 10 consecutive games then, has vowed to regardless stay at the London club until he sees out his contract.
“I am here until the last day of my contract and will always give everything for the club,” Özil had said back in August.
After the coronavirus break and due to back problems, Özil has since lost in standing and was also one of the big losers in the latest Premier League market value update.
The boss, Mikel Arteta’s perspective on former teammate is ideally justifiable that Özil is not part of the long-term plan, and he probably wouldn’t want to deny minutes away from any other player who is slated for a longer project with the Gunners.
Failed interrelations between the boss and player might also be a factor, to a smaller extent though, but it clearly is turning out lately that Arteta finds Özil too incompetent to fit anywhere into his high end pressing tactical setup, and neither does the German’s purely technical game match the way Mikel wants the club to play, with a feasibly more physical approach to the game.
By Baron Kironde
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