Speaking on the Ornstein & Chapman podcast, David Ornstein has shared that Mesut Ozil has been granted a leave of absence from Arsenal in recent weeks.
The German midfielder of course hasn’t played a single game for the Gunners this season, being left out of both the Premier League and Europa League squads, but throughout the campaign he has been spotted in training.
However, it seems as though he’s been granted a bit of time away from Arsenal lately, and Orntein says it’s unknown whether or not he’s returned yet.
“I don’t think there’s any great expectation on behalf of the club or the player that he (Ozil) is going to be reintegrated,” Ornstein said.
“He seems to be training with the first-team, he’s been given a bit of time off with the club’s blessing just recently, so I don’t know if he’s with the first-team setup as we speak, but he has been throughout the season.
“From what we hear, his fitness is in good shape, we know about his technical level, there’s no match fitness whatsoever, he’s not played a single second of football since lockdown in March if I’m right in thinking, so I’d be very surprised, there’s no expectation at this point in time on behalf of the club or the player that he’ll be playing a game for Arsenal.”
This is certainly an interesting development.
Ozil has reportedly been impressing Arteta in training, and apparently, players want him recalled in January. However, the fact that he’s been given time off just before the transfer window is certainly curious.
Of course, we don’t know Ozil’s personal circumstances right now, and it wouldn’t be fair to speculate on why the German hasn’t been training in recent weeks, but this is certainly a situation to keep an eye on in the coming weeks, especially with the transfer window and the registration window open.
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