Charles Watts, the Arsenal correspondent for Goal, has been rounding up the club’s transfer deadline day activity during a recent video on his YouTube channel.
With the Gunners having completed the signing of Thomas Partey and only managing to get Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi out on loan on the final day of the window, as explained by Watts in the video, Mikel Arteta now has too many non-homegrown players in his squad and therefore some potentially difficult decisions will need to be made.
According to the journalist, one of the players that could potentially miss out on a place in the registered squad is Mesut Ozil, who despite earning a huge salary, is yet to feature this season.
Here is what he had to say on the prospect of the £10.8m-rated German missing out on a place altogether:
“Two players are not going to be registered to be able to play in the Premier League until the end of the January transfer window, and these are going to be big players, senior players.
“Mesut Ozil, Arsenal’s highest-earning player – £350k a week, nearly £20m a year – you have to think is a very strong candidate that he might not even be registered to play in the Premier League, because he hasn’t played for months. He hasn’t featured in any squad this season, hasn’t featured since football restarted, so why would Mikel Arteta include him in his Premier League squad?
“You’re facing a very real prospect of Mesut Ozil, Arsenal’s highest-earning player, not even being registered to play in the Premier League until January.”
Should Mesut Ozil be one of the players to miss out?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Ozil joined the club from Real Madrid in 2013 in a deal reportedly worth £42.3m (as per Transfermarkt) but despite contributing 77 assists and 44 goals so far, the fact he hasn’t been involved this season, in our view, highlights a breakdown in the relationship between the 31-year-old and the club.
Taking the above into consideration, we believe Watts is correct to suggest he could be one of the players to miss out.