Arsenal and Mesut Ozil: It all starts with an intention

Mesut Ozil supposedly had a way out of Arsenal, but he passed in order to “fight for his spot” at the Emirates. Everything starts with an intention, right? And this is his.

Arsenal‘s rocky relationship with Mesut Ozil looks like it will be continuing, as it’s being reported that he has turned down a move to Manchester United, and turned down any January loan move irregardless of where he would be sent, in favor of fighting for his place at the Emirates.

Frankly, I’d rather he was just sold. Five years without ever knowing what to expect from Ozil has left me beleaguered. No one should ever question his ability, but what I do question is his unreliability. He just doesn’t have it. Not even a semblance of it.

He’s a luxury player, who succeeds based on his surroundings, without being able to inspire success on his own. To me, that’s not a player that I want to have. And his struggle to settle in to Unai Emery’s system doesn’t inspire any confidence in me going forward.

That said, Ozil had a way out. Surely he’s frustrated, and he could have gone to Manchester United, among other teams, and started afresh in a brand new system, but he was compelled to stay and fight for his spot.

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Some may say that money talks, and he’s getting paid a lot of money to stay right where he is, but I think that is harsh on Ozil.

Everything starts with an intention. If it is Ozil’s intention to fight for his spot and earn his stay, then the least we can do is give him a fair chance to do that. Whether he succeeds or not, this is where it begins. He wants to be a legend here at the Emirates, as he has previously stated, so the fact that he even wants to fight for it should inspire some hope.

Again, I’d much rather just sell him. I wouldn’t even care for the price if it meant offloading those wages and potentially signing someone more useful to a big deal (maybe, oh, I don’t know… Aaron Ramsey?)

But if he wants to fight, then let’s see him fight. Let’s see what he has. He has never truly been challenged for his spot at the Emirates, so it will be interesting to see how he does given the chance for the first time.