{"id":1110873,"date":"2019-10-15T18:27:08","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T17:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1110873"},"modified":"2019-10-15T18:31:57","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T17:31:57","slug":"mesut-ozil-next-club-arsenal-mls-bundesliga","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/mesut-ozil-next-club-arsenal-mls-bundesliga\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Mesut Ozil celebrating his last birthday as an Arsenal player?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mesut Ozil turned the grand old age of 31 on Tuesday but could this be his last birthday as an Arsenal player?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since making his career debut for FC Schalke in 2006, the former Germany international has been a playmaking revelation, with only Dimitri Payet (1084) creating more chances than his 1070 across Europe’s top five leagues during that time.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7392697-premier-league-s-best-united-it-s-not-the-one-from-manchester<\/p>\n

Within that time frame, Ozil has 130 assists in 373 league games, 52 of which have come in the red and white of Arsenal. Only Dimitri Payet has managed more.<\/p>\n

But despite these incredible numbers, Ozil has consistently come in for criticism. Whether it’s controversy surrounding his place in the Germany squad or question marks regarding an apparent lack of commitment or application, his time in north London has been a constant struggle to prove himself in the eyes of pundits and supporters.<\/p>\n

How is Emery adapting his Ozil-less Arsenal squad?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The idea that Ozil might leave Arsenal isn’t exactly new. Over the previous four seasons, his number of Premier League starts has progressively dropped from 35 in 2015\/16, to 32, 24 and 20 thereafter.<\/p>\n

This season, his situation has only got worse. Despite being voted into Unai Emery’s five-man leadership group, Ozil has been given just 71 minutes of Premier League action in just one start so far \u2013 Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Watford \u2013 while his only other minutes have come during the Gunners’ 5-0 League Cup win over Nottingham Forest in September.<\/p>\n

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Arsenal chief Raul Sanllehi tried his best not to criticise Ozil’s work ethic when recently speaking about the midfielder and insisted there is “no barrier” between the player and Emery.<\/p>\n

However, he did concede that the Spaniard picks players who “work hard” in training and rewards their effort.<\/p>\n

“Unai has had many good players in other teams also, and he has always followed the same policy,” he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“That is to try not to make any distinctions, play the ones who work hard in training and reward the effort with playing time.<\/p>\n

“There is nothing against Mesut on the contrary and I hope we get to see him much more in the next games because his qualities are without question. But he needs to contribute 24\/7 and that\u2019s what Unai expects from him.<\/p>\n