Arsenal will need Mesut Ozil’s quality for upcoming games against Manchester United and Cardiff City this month, Unai Emery has stated.
The 30-year-old is yet to feature for the Gunners in 2019. He missed wins over Fulham and Blackpool through injury, and was then left out of the squad against West Ham United despite being fully fit.
Ozil did return to the matchday squad for the London derby against Chelsea at the weekend, but Aaron Ramsey was preferred to him in the starting XI and wasn’t called upon at all in the 2-0 win.
Rumours surrounding the playmaker’s future at the Emirates Stadium has been rampant in recent days, with some reports claiming Emery is open to the idea of a sale during the January transfer window.
However, judging by the Spanish tactician’s recent comments about every player in his squad, it does appear that Ozil remains an important part of his plans – at least in the near future.
“Today I have the confidence with him if he played,” Emery said, as per the Telegraph. “I think he could do like we wanted.
“The next matches we are going to need every player and also his quality.”
In other Emery-Ozil related news, former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has offered his thoughts on the apparent issues between the pair.
“Honestly, I don’t know what is going on,” he said. “I don’t know if he is having physical problems or not, I know that there was some problems relating to his contract.
“He’s leaving on a free, he’s not leaving on a free, he finally signed a contract and he decided to stay.
“There’s not an issue with contract so I believe either there is something from the physical point of view or there is a confrontation of ideas with Unai.
“I think the nature of football is exactly this nature, if Ozil plays amazingly well – maybe not with Unai – and maybe a certain player who I don’t remember was phenomenal with Unai and he doesn’t work as well with me.
“It’s just the nature of empathy.