Earlier this season Mesut Ozil was linked with a move to MLS outfit DC United. As we reported at the time, club officials met with the player’s agent and representatives, as they looked to bring in a star name to replace the departing Wayne Rooney.
With commercial interests and a new kit sponsor in the works, they wanted a Premier League star, and Ozil remains a name on their list.
Now, from Italy come reports that LA Galaxy have set their sights on the German as a potential replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
He’s cast doubt over his MLS future in recent days, and with Ozil’s ongoing situation at Arsenal they’ve reportedly identified Ozil as the man to take his place.
Unai Emery has steadfastly refused to provide any further insight into why he’s refusing to pick the 31 year old. Previously he’d said that other players deserved to be in the squad more, but after Monday’s 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United and the last gasp 3-2 win over Vitoria in the Europa League, the Spaniard played his cards close to his chest saying it wasn’t the right time to talk about it.
Asked if Ozil had a future at the club, he eschewed the usual managerial spin, and it seems that a recall is as far away as ever.
For his part, the former Real Madrid man has consistently said he wants to stay, and did so again in a recent interview with David Ornstein for The Athletic (£).
The situation remains a problem for Arsenal, who look like they’re backing the manager’s stance, albeit from a distance.
Could a high profile, big money move to LA provide a solution for all concerned?
Even at his alleged worst, he’s done more than Emery for the club. I could maybe even accept it if I could see özil playing with this attack that he’s been screaming out for for his entire time at Arsenal. Show me him being a shit footballer then I’ll accept that this clueless bleach teeth Twat knows something about football and isn’t just trying to stamp some ridiculous authority on the club
Man, I’m not Emery’s biggest fan but I can’t get over how quickly this has spiralled into toxic nastiness. I swear previous to Sheff Utd there was quiet grumblings but in general everyone was ok with how we were doing.
It’s only one game. How could 90 mins turn the fanbase so severely? We’ve got a winnable group of games coming up and I think we need to just chill out and see where we are come the next interlull.
Winable you say? I bet Sheffield was on that list until Monday night.
Liverpool nearly came unstuck there. And if they play like that we won’t be the only top 6 (if that’s still a thing) to drop points there. It’s a tough place to go on a Monday night. Let’s try and have just a smidgen of perspective before we turn the next few months into a toxic hellhole.
We had this very similar ‘winnable group of games’ towards the very end of last season & needed very little from those to clinch the top four spot as everyone around us was properly shitting their bed.
But no, we made sure we have a massive diarrhea instead.
The thing that was so frustrating about the end of Wenger’s reign is that it felt like no one at the club had the authority or cojones to sack him.
For once I’m pleased to say I have full confidence in Vinai, Raul and Edu to do the right thing at he right time. Until then I’ll keep singing and keep supporting. But if name calling and personal attacks is your thing, crack on. I hope it makes you feel better.
This years last few fixtures are not good reading.
People on here don’t like to talk about it but Sheffield United have the best defence in the league alongside Liverpool so far. To assume we should walk it just because they’re a promoted side is pure arrogance.
Having said that, the balance in midfield is clearly off and with a lack of quality at fullback we really need our CMs to step up with creativity. Ceballos should be starting at a minimum.
But it’s not that we didn’t win against Sheffield. We have lost before and will again, regardless of the manager. However, if you play a game which tries to attack and win, then I feel that is something we can get behind and build on. If you play well, you’ll win more frequently. If your managers choice is to play, ugly pragmatic football, then fair play it can work, but he bloody better have the results to back it up. We have neither. At the end of last season, we had CL football ripe for the picking, but we shit… Read more »
Seems like we have one who likes Emery’s shit on this thread.
@AP – part of this is it’s possible to dislike Emery’s style without resorting to nasty personal insults about the guy = which increasingly what the comments section of this blog is turning into. I think he’s doing a poor job with Arsenal right now – but the guy flat out knows more about any fan on this site about football or else he wouldn’t have won 3 Europa league titles & managed PSG = pretty major job. There’s no need to insult his intelligence or his teeth etc.
Well said @atom!
I feel this should be said in a hillbilly accent with a shotgun pointing to my head.
Balanced comment this, to be fair.
Ceballos is overrated af
Thank you for the perspective!
I myself was consumed with anger and frustration… I didn’t see it from that angle at the time.
Well said.
I would say you are his biggest fan on this site
Mate.. it seems to me for almost one Calendar year this manager has had 3rd place in the league in his hand. I never wanted this manager but I’m not important, but I do know football from watching it for almost 40 years and I know for a fact if we used any other tactics rather than his we would be 2nd place right now chasing Liverpool such is the load of shite are closest competitors are also playing
I just wonder if we don’t look back at this squad the same way we look back at the Chamakh Bentdner Coquelin days… An ok squad that was never going to challenge for much. There’s just too much mediocrity for us to get any kind of consistency.
I’m with you on name calling. No need for that. I disagree on the squad though. We have the player material to do better than what we are at the moment. Correct me if I’m wrong but right now I only see one person responsible for that and it’s Emery.
When you have two CB’s who have proven time and time again to be erratic at best and an immobile DM who’s prone to error, you probably aren’t going to challenge Liverpool for long.
That’s kind of the thing though. The team has younger and better defenders, though Holding is just coming back. They have a good DM that Emery insists on not playing as a DM. They have a pretty good AM who can’t even make the squad most days. I have a feeling that if Pep or Klopp has this said the results would be much different after one year. Arsenal is pretty much exactly where they were one year later.
I think that would apply to every team in the world. They are legendary managers and currently the best two in the world by a mile. Emery isn’t. Clearly. He’s a Europa League manager. But guess what, we’re a Europa League team. When you look at our defence for this season – AMN / Chambers, Luiz, Sok and Kolasinac, shouldn’t we be lower than 5th with a game in hand? Because I think the majority of teams in the prem have better defences than that group of frankly pathetic offerings. Add to that an out of form new signing, an… Read more »
@HelderHughes ..the pitch forks are out, stoked by blogs no less, and you’re currently speaking in some language they won’t understand.
Common sense
Chamakh and Bendtner? Is that how you rate Aubameyang and Lacazette?
I think we have the third best squad in the league, since emery came in I thought are defence would get better and as consequence are attack wouldn’t be as potent and was willing to accept if the team was more structured. But no are defence and attack has got worse. I don’t think emery is the man to take us forward. I’m just sick we didn’t get Rogers when we got emery
True, our defence has been shocking!
If each of our senior defenders hadn’t been so error prone at their previous clubs, I’d blame it all on coaching. Our recruitment for this area of the pitch’s been sketchy at best. I’m hoping our new recruits (Tierney, Saliba) offer some serious improvements.
The attack takes longer and will improve with better players (fullbacks and midfield) on the pitch.
HH, Wake up and you will see it is not just Sheffield Utd.
I must have missed a meeting, sorry I thought this was the blog that coined the big fat walrus. And Emery has cost us more points than senior Allardyce. Anyway, I will be more careful being insulting about anyone I find ridiculous.
Call me old fashioned but I thought perhaps we might have a little more decorum for the guy who actually manages the club we support than some dude who used to coach Bolton Wanderers.
Just rewatch a few of the ‘La Prof’ interviews and maybe listen extra carefully when he talks about the values and principles of our football club.
I actually suspect that it’s Raul and Vinai who have instructed Emery to not select Ozil anymore, in order to force him out and get that 350k a week off the books.
Of course they did, this is coming from the very top Emery wouldn’t have the balls to do it . Plus I’m sure he knows Ozil could help but the instructions are to get rid of his wages and Emery is s good soldier (ie. Knows to follow orders)
Just get the 350k off the books? Surely Don Raul and Vinai aren’t so daft as to not let the player’s value drop too? If he plays (and plays well), his value increases and will fetch a considerable price.
Or they simply wish to offload him & his wages as soon as possible without any care for the transfer fee
Ozil’s value is redundant at this stage. No club in the world is going to pay his market value on top of matching or getting anywhere near his wages. We could give him away for free and save 27,300,000 in what would be his wages for the final 18 months of his contract and that’s something Raul and Vinai might be considering. It’s a real shame how this has all played out, and as he’s such a popular figure within the squad, I start to wonder if all this scenario has had a negative impact on the whole squad.
Why do you suppose he is a popular figure with his teammates? He’s not famous for his pranks or his songs in the changing room. Football players above all respect quality. Everyone in that room wants Ozil on the pitch because it will make them better. Well, almost everyone.
Transfer fee + £350K pw, not going to happen, it’s not peak Ozil from RM.
They know the 350k a week contract was yet another Gazidis blunder and is having a knock on effect with other contracts. They clearly want him gone but I doubt they’re putting pressure on Emery to do anything in terms of team selection.
I really hope that they don’t dictate Emery who to select, but I suspect they have shared their plans with him. And these are that they plan to and will get rid of Özil at the first possible chance. So Emery goes along and since this player has no future at the club, he will not be selected. If Emery wanted to provoke Özil even more, he could actually put him in the squad for every away game and make him travel to Sheffield, EL away games, Carabao away, etc. Surely sitting at home is much more comfortable than making… Read more »
Nice tinfoil hat.
This is quite a daft statement. If Raul and Vinai wanted to get rid of him they should let him play until they get an offer so he can stay match fit and audition. If he doesn’t start PL then at least keep him in bench and give him minutes and play him in cup games. This way Arsenal can atleast something back from £350K week salary.
This complete shut off and once a while opening becoming confusing silly mess.
Unai Emery is a cancer, look at what happened at PSG and how he lost the dressing room. I think he has an inferiority complex judging by the way he is unable to deal with big players and also how he sets up the team against even weaker opposition.
The longer he stays the worse it will get and on the last couple of games feel like the players haven’t been playing for him like they did when he first arrived.
Boot the joker out
So many toxic supporters who agree with your tasteless comment about Unai Emery. Ok he’s not the best manager in the world but with our defenders coming back from injury and new players such as Pepe and Ceballos starting to find form please give him more time. We also have a great crop of young players so it’s not quite as drastic as you seem to make it.
There are a lot of sticks to beat Emery with but the “PSG dressing room” is a laughable one. If by big players you mean Neymar then I have news for you buddy, no one can deal with that kind of ego anymore! There’s a reason PSG want him gone, and it has nothing to do with Emery.
I am no real fan of Emery but describing him as a *cancer* is bang out of order.
Absolutely. What an appalling thing to say.
Disagree with him yes, criticise yes. But that’s just wank really
The truth is that none of us actually know why he is not being selected, even as part of the squad. It’s a real public slap in the face and a complete embarrassment for the club.
If you want to sell him or interest other clubs, you have to put him in the shop window. This ‘leaving him home alone’, is a nonsense and embarrassing situation and if it is those above issuing orders, then it’s unforgivable to interfere in team selection. If it’s the manager, he needs to take a long hard look at himself…
That is indeed the truth, nobody knows it, this is also why we can’t assume that he is in good enough condition to play. Getting games could also diminish his market value. This will be the case when he plays worse than interested parties expect him to play, so they will quickly lose any interest. Would that be the case? I have no clue, I don’t see any Arsenal training sessions. “Those above” giving clear orders to play or not to play any specific player would be a scandal, I agree. But anyway, it’s not like wonder performances by Özil… Read more »
Who’s to say that when he goes, Arsenal wouldn’t still be on the hook for part of his wages? I am trying to think of a team that might be clueless enough to pay a fee and his wages. Hopefully they are out there, but with all the press and acrimony why would anyone pay a “market” price for Ozil at this time? Sorry, but he has become damaged goods with the actions of this management.
I read somewhere that Ozil or his people have been in America to work out deals to get his chain of coffee shops opened in some stadiums, this has nothing to do with Ozil wanting to play in the MLS; they couldn’t come near to matching his wages. Ozil seems happy to sit on his fat contract and plan his future with his coffee shops. If he was really so desperate to play he would have accepted a new contract on a lower wage, here or somewhere else, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I think people have… Read more »
It’s not like he refused to play and sit on his arse and collect paychecks. He is training and making himself available for selection. The rest is up to coach and Emery thinks he is not good enough. The argument about him switching club is not so simple. When he got £350k contract he could have gone to other clubs that January or the next summer bosman. But he put himself in a risky situation by committing to Arsenal. Why should he take a big pay cut to play somewhere else? Now he smells blood, Emery looks less likely to… Read more »
The club gave him that fat contract, he’s there to play and the manager doesn’t play him.
Thanks be to Bergkamp.
The freed up funds goes towards other things. Finally, our club looks decisive.
This situation is an embarrassment and is clearly affecting everyone at the club. This has to be solved and january is to late for that. 2 more months focusing on the Ozil situation will be devastating for the players morale. For a club to thrive and get results -everyone has to be working together in unison. That is the managers role.
Thing is if Ozil wants to stay & see out his contract, nowt anyone can do. If he does he’ll still be here when Emery is gone! Though after last night maybe Brendan Rogers can get a tune out of him.
We’re surely not going to get a fee? but getting his wages off the books, and moving on would be massive. Ozil refusing to leave, says everything about his desire to play football, his recent social media activity, and also after Rennes away last season was cynical. I’m sure I’ve been watching a different player to many Arsenal fans, Ozil is a waste of space, inconsistent, and has been on the slide for a very long time. Getting Ozil+Mustafi out permanently in January, and then moving Kolasinac and Mkhitaryan on permanently in the summer, would free up a lot of… Read more »
I won’t say he’s a “waste of space”, but he’s definitely turned into DeBruyne the longer he’s absent from the match day squad, according to some fans. I’m even starting to doubt my own memories of his last 5 seasons at this club. Thought he played with our current strike force, especially towards the last third of the season when Ramsey went down. Did we win those games? What were his performances like? How did he do in the Europa final against Chelsea? …And this is meant to be our talisman? Our Messi? Our LeBron? We’re the ARSENAL for f@ck… Read more »
Apologies. Saka not Sara. iPad autocorrect #facepalm
Keep Ozil and bring in a manager that can bring out more and better from this team. Ozil included.
So we can enjoy more rubbish match by ozil…how many time we have to watch him having a poor match before some fanboy clearly learn we cant continue to build team around him.
Nobody want him even after we say we pay some of his wages except some decent side from much weaker league..but according to some he is the saviour of arsenal
Not sure if DC can outright afford him, as I’m sure Ozil will want a large portion of his image rights. Either way he will fit there better than in the Premier League where you wouldn’t find a top four team wanting a pure number 10. In fact if he was in any of the squads in the teams above us he would be shipped out unless he was on 100k q week or less. As he would only be a squad player for particular opposition. How Wenger made it work is some genius. But the game has changed alot… Read more »
Well he wouldn’t be cup tied in LA
I hope he leaves, I really enjoy seeing Torreira in the number 10 role.
I got the joke
Apparently eight first team players liked the Mesut laughing tweet, and Arsenal Media have him starring in the pre Palace training video. If Unai is taking on Mesut he’s probably taking on more than he bargained for. I went to the match on Thursday hoping to see Mesut play, all I saw was a huge empty space in the middle of the pitch where he should have been and a striker getting no service and becoming more and more frustrated, so whether you like him or not, surely it’s worth giving him a go, there is absolutely no creativity in… Read more »
Concur on Unai playing him, as it would be a loss of face at this point. Really a bad situation for the club in all respects. Just hope that taking sides does not apply to the locker room, and everyone stays professional as expected. I think Ozil is just ready to, for the lack of a better term, put it to Emery/Arsenal on his seeing out the contract. As the old false saying goes, “nothing personal it’s just business.”
Better send #EmeryOut to FC Mongolia.
There was a time we were saying arsenal wasn’t showing good intent by not having at least someone with big pay…today we have but the story is change. The question is, do you really think you love arsenal?
If you do, why would you want this guy waste our precious time. He’s not a fraud but if Ozil is financially frauding our club, Emery is tactically frauding the fans.
Emery has got to go!!! Nice enough bloke but not the right manager for arsenal!!!
Frankly we will sell when we can. for salary, he is not delivering. I think he is an excellent player but his performances are sporadic and his off ball work needs more. And given, I’d rather have Ceballos AND (the improving) Smith-Rowe play the advance role supported by the forward energy of either Guendouzi or Torreira. Too many people have deluded memories as per usual selective in their view of certain players bc they now have an agenda against the gaffer. These are the same lot who said they were willing to give the gaffer 3 or 4 seasons to… Read more »
“ I think he is an excellent player but his performances are sporadic and his off ball work needs more. “ This is a contradictory statement I see quite often from our fans — often with the term WORLD CLASS tagged onto the end of it. Can one be truly deemed excellent, when his performances are sporadic and there’s little to no off the ball work? Let’s objectively look at the 3 top players from each team you think might finish in the top 4. They all have one thing in common — great technique. The separation between 1st, 2nd,… Read more »
I just fail to see “The problem” The problem is self created by people who prefer to see one or by media who want to see one. So Ozil doesn’t play. Its not like he was delivering that much to us either. His performances are erratic at best and off ball work poor. Worse to worse we continue to pay him out till we find a seller. not ideal but given we made room in wage bill recently, not a huge problem. If he comes round to things, we can work him back in. What would be stupid would be… Read more »