Mesut Ozil has been caught cold. Arsenal’s sniffling playmaker, raking in an eye-watering £350,000 a week at the Emirates, is a sore loser.
Unai Emery talks about Mesut Ozil no show and beating West Ham at The Emirates
Subbed at Chelsea, taking forever to walk off when he was hooked by Unai Emery, opted out of the next game. Poor form that.
Emery pulled Ozil on Thursday, outlining a redefined role for him against West Ham after opening the season with two nondescript displays.
The next thing Emery knew, Arsenal’s mercurial and moody No 10 reported a nasal issue and was signed off by the club doctor for two days. Draw your own conclusions.
At least his replacement, Aaron Ramsey, a man with half the talent but ten times the endeavour and application of sick note, put a shift in against the Hammers.
Ozil would have got away with murder under Wenger but he is not given the same luxuries under Emery.
But the Welshman is in his own stand-off with Arsenal over signing a new contract and will be a free agent next summer unless he puts pen to paper.
Arsenal won on Saturday — just — without Ozil on the field.
But this little power struggle with the German is a distraction for Emery in his early days at the club.
Under the previous regime, when Arsene Wenger overlooked every misdemeanour from his superstars, Ozil could have got away with murder.
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Aaron Ramsey replaced Ozil in the starting line up for the London derby at the Emirates and impressed.
Emery, with his outright devotion to the tactical nuances of the sport, has a different approach.
If he was picking players based on salaries, then Ozil would walk straight into the Arsenal team.
Emery has separated himself from all the hysteria surrounding Ozil, detaching himself from the superstar image the player has cultivated for himself in North London.
Until Ozil falls into line, he will face an extended spell on the sidelines under Arsenal’s new boss.
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This is a big week for him because he will be expected to resume training again after a weekend spent in bed with a Lemsip and a hot-water bottle. As if.
Cardiff away, where Neil Warnock always has an agricultural welcome in store for overseas fancy-dans like Ozil, is not his kind of fixture.
The ballerina in Ozil will not like the idea of some Cardiff player clumping him on Sunday when he takes one touch too many.
In many ways this situation is of Arsenal’s making because they took the catastrophic decision to hand him a megabucks three-and-a-half-year contract last season.
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