Mesut Ozil: Did loyalty cost the German his place at Arsenal?
By Varun Aithal
Arsenal are once again off to a mediocre start to the Premier League after they find themselves in 10th place at the end of Matchdays 6.
The Gunners have nine points from six games with a positive goal difference. Most recently they were out-foxed by Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes on Sunday in the Premier League at the Emirates. The loss has once again highlighted the board’s inability to sign the required players in the transfer window.
Arsenal’s poor start to the league is also because of a lack of creativity in the midfield. Mikel Arteta’s men have one of the best strikers in England, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who is in dire need of world-class supply. Their failure to sign a creative midfielder in the previous window is proving costly for them.
It is not a new fact or an unknown thing to fans and football pundits. Even though Arsenal were unable to sign a creative midfielder, they have one of the best midfielders at their disposal. It is none other than Mesut Ozil. The German international is one of the most-hailed creative midfielders in England but he finds himself without first-team football at the moment.
As the transfer window closed on October 5th, all 20 teams handed in the names of their respective 25-men squads for the season. Sadly, Ozil who is on a contract of £350,000 per week didn’t find his name on the list.
Adding to the insult, his name was excluded from the Europa League squad too. This raises only one question, did his loyalty to the club cost him regular football?
Ozil was signed by Arsene Wenger in 2013 for a record fee of €47 million from Real Madrid. Under Arsene Wenger, the player flourished alongside Alexis Sanchez and went on to become a deadly due in the Premier League.
A report published back in 2017 stated that Arsenal relies on the duo to score goals all the time. It also mentioned that both of them accounted for 102 goals (goals or assists) out of 191 goals since their arrival. Now, the team has failed to achieve the same heights since Sanchez’s departure and Ozil has become outcasted by his club while also being a shadow of his former self.