Mesut Ozil: Should he stay or should he go?

Don’t worry, the German playmaker isn’t set to release a karaoke version of the Clash classic but the sentiment is still there. Arsenal and Ozil have been hit in recent weeks with report after report about Ozil looking to leave/being asked to be/being kicked out of the club. But would he be better of hitting the road or staying and playing?

The first thing you have to say about Ozil is that he is a World Class player. Yes he’s not been on form recently but he consistently creates more chances than almost anyone else in the European game. However I think the main reason he has been struggling of late is the consistent efforts of Arsene Wenger to push him out into the wide areas, somewhere he cannot be as effective.

Is Ozil wasted at Arsenal or has Ozil wasted his own chances?

When he is played through the middle there are very few defences in the world that would want to play against him and when playing for Real Madrid he was afforded so much space, because so much of their football was played on the counter-attack, he was at liberty to pick out passes from a whole range of choices. Also playing with Ronaldo, Benzema and Di Maria around you was never going to be a hindrance was it?

However could that have been paving over what has now come to light at Arsenal? That is, when the going get’s tough, Ozil seems to disappear without a trace like a scared mouse?

The reason Ozil has come under fire is that he hasn’t been up the standards that fans saw at Real Madrid. Pure and simple. And if a player isn’t pulling his weight in the big games he might as well not be in the starting XI. And if you can’t put him in the starting XI for a big match on his kind of wages then why should he be in the squad at all?

If Wenger is prepared to give Ozil a run of games to start in the middle then I think we should at least wait until the end of the season, but this does mean that Ramsey will have to be pushed slightly further back to accommodate the German. I don’t think this would be bad per say but we have to weigh up exactly what we want to get out of having Mesut Ozil in the squad.

Personally I would be happy with a front four of Welbeck up front, Walcott on the right wing, Sanchez on the left wing and Ozil in behind. It will require Ramsey to play slightly deeper and Wilshere/Flamini to act as the holding midfielder in the set up, but I think this is a very strong attacking line up.

So what do you think? Should he stay or should he go?

Follow Pain in the Arsenal on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter