Arsenal’s decision to leave Mesut Ozil out of their Premier League squad has been labelled ‘incomprehensible’ and a ‘low blow’.
The German midfielder was left out of the Gunners squad yesterday, with the decision to omit him essentially bringing an end to his career at the Emirates.
The move has been viewed as a bold one from Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, particularly given Ozil’s status among the club’s high earners.
Naturally, some have seen it as an odd choice as there was no concerted push from either the German or Arsenal to force a transfer during the summer transfer window.
They question whether Arsenal ‘missed a few courses in terms of PR’ or if someone at the club is ‘hiding a crucial part’ of it as from the outside, it ‘doesn’t make any sense at all’.
Their belief is that nobody should pity the club when they are laying off 55 permanent staff during the Coronavirus pandemic and yet can afford to pay Ozil high wages for ‘doing nothing’.
They also ponder what ‘kind of a picture’ you are giving out when laying off Gunnersaurus only for Ozil, ‘of all people’, to come to his rescue and offer to pay his wages.
The midfielder is not completely absolved, with Kicker admitting he ‘is not innocent’ given his refusal to waive part of his salary at the beginning of the pandemic.
They also admit that he is not the player he was seven years ago and has ‘not played very well’ when given the chance.
Arsenal, though, are the ones very much in the wrong at this point as far as they are concerned and they need to ‘slowly explain’ the ‘strange external image’ they have been sending out in the last few months.
