Mesut Ozil's exclusion from Arsenal's PL and EL squads has been one of the main talking points this season. With the German's exit this January looking unlikely, many hoped Arteta could find Ozil a place in the squad. However, David Ornstein holds a different view.
"I don’t think there’s any great expectation on behalf of the club or the player that he is going to be reintegrated into Arsenal’s squad," he told the Ornstein and Chapman podcast.
"He seems to be training with the first team. I think 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 and from what we hear, his fitness is in good shape.
"We know about his technical level, there’s no match fitness whatsoever though. He’s not played a single second of football since lockdown in March, so I’d be, as I said before, very surprised and I think that there’s no expectation, really, at this point in time on behalf of the club or the player that he’ll be playing again for Arsenal.”
That would be a sad end to Mesut Ozil's career with the Gunners. He's certainly tailed off after signing a new deal in 2018 but he was a good player, verging on great for years before that.
However with an open conflict such as the one we are seeing now, Ornstein's view looks the most logical outcome. Arteta doesn't look like a man who'll go back on his decision.
