Harry Redknapp has made it clear that Arsenal’s frozen out star Mesut Ozil is ‘not going to move’ and compared his situation to Gareth Bale’s at Tottenham, as he told his own podcast.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has made it clear to Ozil for months that he no longer has a future at the club after he was left out of the 25-man Premier League squad at the start of this delayed campaign.
With the January transfer window open, rumours have once again surfaced about whether Ozil could be heading for the exit door. But that talk has been far too familiar without any action to it.
Redknapp thinks that the highly-paid playmaker is staying put, as he compared his financial situation to that of Real Madrid loanee Bale, who returned to Tottenham in the summer.
“What can you do with them?” asked Redknapp. “He’s not going to move whilst he is earning that money. No-one else is going to pay it to him and he is going to sit there and he’s going to keep taking it.
“We saw it with Gareth [Bale]. He has gone to Tottenham. I would say Tottenham aren’t paying more than £100k-a-week. I bet Real Madrid are still paying £500k-a-week. They wanted him out and he was doing nothing there.
“But you are stuck with them, whoever the people who have them [the money]. What are you going to do? If someone offers it to you then you are going to take it. But you have to want to play.”
Arsenal’s record transfer deals
- Nicolas Pepe
£72 million
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
£56 million
- Alexandre Lacazette
£52 million
- Thomas Partey
45 million
- Mesut Ozil
£42 million
Even though Ozil was left out of Arsenal’s plans this season, it still seems as though the £42 million playmaker [BBC Sport] has been one of the most-talked-about players at the club this term.
Whether it was the right or wrong decision to leave him out of Arsenal’s plans, the club should have parted ways with him as soon as they decided he wasn’t going to make the cut.
There’s no doubt that he has been an unnecessary distraction, but academy star Emile Smith Rowe is slowing veering the attention away from the German and onto himself following his recent performances.
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