Mesut Ozil, who hasn’t played for the club since March will not be in Arsenal’s Europa League squad when it is announced on Thursday . It has raised serious doubts about his future in the club and it has been around for some time. Even boss Mikel Arteta recently said that it has been “very difficult” for 31-year-old Ozil to break back into the side. Ozil is the highest paid player in Arsenal’s history.
He played in every Premier League game under Arteta until the season was cut short by COVID-19 pandemic – and has not featured since.
“The team is evolving, you can see the level they are achieving. This is where we are at the moment. We want to evolve more and play better and compete better,” said Arteta on being asked why the World Cup-winner had fallen out of favour with him.
“We need to keep maintaining that. I’m really happy with the performance here, how difficult they’re making things for the coaching staff to select the squad.”
Arsenal will begin their Europa League campaign when they face Group B rivals Rapid Vienna in Austria on October 22 before matches against Dundalk and Molde.
Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta’s extraordinary impact at Arsenal continues but there are issues which still need to be addressed.
