Liam Brady has defended Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta over his treatment of Mesut Ozil, insisting the latter is ‘not a good guy’ in the dressing room or on the pitch.
Arteta has caught criticism for exiling Ozil after leaving him out of his Premier League and Europa League squad.
But the Arsenal boss will be permitted to recall him into both after the January transfer window.
It’s fair to say that the Gunners are struggling this season, despite winning their last two Premier League games against Chelsea and Brighton respectively.
Technical Director Edu has been quoted as saying that Arsenal need a creative midfielder during the upcoming transfer window, sparking debate as to whether Arteta was right to banish Ozil.
But club legend Brady, who was academy director at London Colney until 2014, has claimed that the 32-year-old doesn’t bring anything positive on or off the pitch, insisting Arteta is correct to be ‘bombing’ him.
He told The Keys and Gray podcast: “I don’t blame Arteta over Ozil. He gave Ozil plenty of chances & he performed for a couple of months. Ozil just reverted back to type. He’s not a good guy in the dressing room, he’s not a good guy on the pitch. I’ve no problem with Mikel bombing him.”
Things are better at Arsenal now in comparison to this time last week.
Those two wins have really restored some optimism in North London, but Arteta’s side are still 13th in the Premier League table and defeat by West Brom on Saturday would spark further debate as to whether they need to bring Ozil back.
The Germany international, a World Cup winner in 2014, is out of contract next summer anyway, so Arteta and Edu might feel that it’s better off to keep him away rather than recall him at this stage.
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