Unai Emery wants more from Mesut Ozil as the Arsenal head coach warned the German he needs to play wherever necessary.
Emery has been forced to play down reports of a bust-up with Ozil after the Arsenal playmaker missed last week’s 3-1 Premier League win over London rivals West Ham.
Ozil’s absence was due to illness, according to Emery – who is seeking improvement from the 29-year-old and his entire Arsenal squad ahead of Sunday’s trip to Cardiff City.
“I like the possibility to have the player play different positions on the pitch and then it depends each match for us and for the opposition,” Emery said. “For that, Mesut played with me on the right wing and also as No.10, and we are going to continue to do that.
“Mesut in his career, he played as a 10 and on the right — when he was playing at Real Madrid, I remember a lot of matches on the right.
“His quality is for playing between the lines. But I spoke with him for his best position on the pitch and I know he can play right and as a 10. And he wants that I can use him for two positions.
“Every player in the squad plays in the position we need. Our demands are very high, very great, but I want to ask every player every day to give us more — not just Mesut, the team, the squad. We need to push, we need to have ambition, we need to have desire to improve every day.
“This is my message for the team, for the squad and for every player.”