It’s a new season but the same absentees for Arsenal.
The Gunners faced off against Liverpool in a Community Shield clash this evening, three weeks after winning the FA Cup.
Mateo Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil were exiled by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta during Project Restart, even if the latter’s disappearance was originally chalked down to injury.
And neither player were included in Arteta’s squad for today’s clash with the Premier League champions, which speaks volumes.
The French midfielder, an £8 million signing from Lorient in 2018, has been linked with a move to Unai Emery’s Villarreal among others, though it could be difficult for the North Londoners to get Ozil – who’s earning £350,000 per week – out of the club.
But with their continued absence into the 2020-21 campaign, Clinton Morrison has revealed that he can’t see either player pulling on the shirt ever again.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live today: “I don’t think we will ever see Guendouzi or Ozil again for Arsenal. I think they will be trying to get rid of both of them. Ozil will be hard to shift, though.”
And if we’re honest, Morrison is probably right. Arteta, as a manager, doesn’t appear to take any BS and any player with an attitude issue, or one who doesn’t apply himself in training, is simply not going to survive under the Arsenal boss.
That’s precisely the way it should be and if the Spanish manager can lead this team to trophies like the FA Cup, in his first season, without either player, neither will be missed.
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