Arsenal manager Unai Emery has been sending clear messages to Mesut Ozil in recent months that he is not part of his first-team plans.
Paul Merson has claimed that Mesut Ozil would be starting on a regular basis for Arsenal if he was earning 10k-a-week at the club.
Since the start of the season, Arsenal manager Unai Emery has been sending signal after signal that Ozil, who is earning £350k-a-week [Spotract] at the club, is not part of his plans.
The German has constantly been left out of Arsenal’s matchday squads, which has resulted in fans being critical of their manager for not even selecting him for the bench.
Speaking to The Debate on Sky Sports Football (23/10/19 at 10:45 pm), Former Arsenal midfielder Merson suggested that because of Ozil’s high wages he has to run around like a ‘maniac’ and if he was earning a lot less, he would be in the starting XI.
“He doesn’t play because he doesn’t run around, that’s the problem,” Merson told Sky Sports. “Not my problem because he plays in my team because he can play and he makes thing happen.
“But because he doesn’t run around, because he’s on £350k-a-week, and that’s the problem, if he was on £10k-a-week, he would play every week. Even if he didn’t run around. But because he’s on £350k-a-week that means he has to run around like a maniac.
“I thought everyone was a bit disrespectful to Sheffield United. I thought Sheffield United were good. Everybody is like Arsenal should go there and win four, I thought if Arsenal had draw there it would have been a great result. Times have changed. My biggest thing with Arsenal was, I wonder what this team would be like if Wilder was in charge? The Sheffield United team all knew what they were doing – I didn’t see a plan [with Arsenal].”
Arsenal were beaten at Sheffield United on Monday night as the performance from the North London club was abject from back to front.
The Gunners will be in Europa League action on Thursday night and a lot of attention will be on who Emery selects to be in his team.
If Ozil, who moved to the Emirates Stadium for £42 million from Real Madrid in 2013 [BBC Sport], is missing once again then it’ll cause even more uproar towards Emery, who is already facing stinging criticism from his own supporters.
Whilst there is the understanding that Ozil may not have the work rate that his manager demands, some feel that he should be respected because of his sheer quality in the attacking third, and at the very least, should be in the matchday squad.
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