Arsenal, Mesut Ozil and Fortnite: Is this real life?

Apparently, there is a chance that Mesut Ozil’s extended Arsenal absence may be down to…. playing too much Fortnite. Is this real life?

I tried to ignore it. I tried… so hard… to just pretend it wasn’t real. But the reports out there that Mesut Ozil‘s extended absence from the Arsenal first team may be down to playing too much Fortnite are piling up, and they made it all the way back to a befuddled Unai Emery. So naturally, it had to be talked about.

I’ve said it before about Hippy Crack and I’ll say it again. Athletes are human beings. They have real life wants and needs. They do things that you or I do. As long as it doesn’t change what they are doing on the pitch, I don’t care what it is they’re doing.

That said, if the report is true, and Ozil really is suffering back spasms from spending so much time on Fortnite, then we need to have a different conversation.

According to the report, Ozil is spending an average of five hours a day playing Fortnite. First of all, where is he finding all of that time? I’d kill to spend five hours a day playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

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But that’s not the point. The point is, an actual sports physician said that it is “possible” that this degree of inactivity can contribute to the back spasms, as Ozil is used to intense training and inactivity to that degree can have negative repercussions.

Which makes it all sound believable right?

But no mater how much I am led to believe that this is real life, and that our highest paid star is injured from too much video gaming, the more I have to step back and say, “no… no. I refuse to believe that our highest paid star is injured because he is playing too many video games.”

Right? I can’t believe I’m even typing these words. But the hardcore evidence – how much he is playing, for instance – isn’t disputable. There are ways of checking that, and it appears as though this is a valid number.

Meaning that there is an actual chance that this is how Ozil got injured, or how he isn’t getting better, or something.

Then again, I guess it’s hard to blame him. I mean, we all saw the pictures of his entertainment room when he shared them with the world. Also, the question I want to know is… is he playing with teammates? #TeamBonding