The Mirror Journalist John Cross has issued an update on Mesut Ozil’s future with Arsenal on the Arsenal Beat podcast.
Ozil has been frozen out of the first-team picture with the Gunners for a number of months now, and hasn’t featured for the senior team since their 1-0 win over West Ham back in the 2019/20 season.
It seems highly unlikely that Ozil has much of a future at The Emirates, although there hasn’t been much speculation linking him with a move elsewhere heading into the New Year.
When responding to a supporter’s question on Ozil, John Cross hinted that the German midfielder is remaining at the club due to a financially beneficial contract.
“They’re treading carefully. They’re almost playing a diplomatic game and talking respectfully about Mesut. It’s pretty clear that Mesut Ozil’s contract is bonus-lain, and when they did the contract, it seemed like a good idea to put bonuses in there for him to stay in the long-term, and what an own goal that looks now.
“Mesut Ozil, I don’t think is in a rush to leave, there are financial incentives for him to stay and as obvious as it would seem to try and pay him up, I don’t think any club could pay bonuses in advance could they?
“I think that’s part of the issue and I think it’s such a shame that it’s ended like this for such an amazing talent. There’s no doubt about it that his wages mean they can’t do other things.”
Arsenal are set to return to action on 2nd January, when they take on relegation-threatened West Brom at The Hawthorns, in a match they’ll be expected to pick up three points from, after the Baggies were thrashed 5-0 recently by Leeds United.
TIF thoughts on Cross’ important update on Ozil’s future at Arsenal heading into the January transfer window….
We’re not surprised to hear that he’s content with his current contract with the Gunners. Ozil was a key player for Arsenal, and when the club got him tied down to a new contract, they would have been expecting him to be playing a starring role in the future, but obviously that hasn’t been the case.
With this expensive contract in place, Cross has hinted that it’ll be difficult to move Ozil on heading into the New Year, which may be a frustrating update for the Arsenal supporters.
He’s evidently well down the pecking order in Mikel Arteta’s plans at this moment in time, and it seems like such a waste of talent to have him not even involved in the match-day squad this season.