Arsenal: Unai Emery laying siege to Mesut Ozil’s castle

Unai Emery is not exactly high on Mesut Ozil at Arsenal, but putting him equal to everyone else isn’t exactly a bad thing now, is it?

Unai Emery was more than a little frustrated after Arsenal‘s futile 1-0 loss to West Ham. Meaning he is right there with us fans, angry out of his mind, unable to figure out why such utilizing quality players doesn’t always pan out the way it should on the pitch.

As the experimentation drags on with Emery, so too does the knowledge that Mesut Ozil probably doesn’t have too much of a future with the club. He himself said that he wanted to stay and fight for his place in Emery’s squad, but his wages are more than a bit prohibitive, meaning that if there is any way to convince Ozil that he should leave, to free up that space, Emery is going to try it out.

After West Ham, Emery spoke plainly about his decision to leave Ozil out of the squad, and it didn’t necessarily come down to injury at all. It came down to that same old reasoning, that he didn’t fit in tactically.

Here is what he said:

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“For me he is like another player. It’s one decision, when one player is coming or not coming. Sometimes he is helping us, at other moments he is not helping us because of his injury or because maybe the match is not for him. But he is a good player.”

That is some pretty sound logic in the throes of disappointment, and it shows that Unai Emery has the right idea – he needs to make Ozil want this. He needs to make Ozil equal to everyone else in the club – something that Arsene Wenger drastically struggled with. he couldn’t seem to sort out his tactical decisions from his emotional ones.

Emery is trying to fix that, among the countless other things he is also trying to fix, all at once.

Again, it’s an admirable charge, but it is impossible to do with the wages that Ozil is making. He’s making gobs more than anyone else on the team, and no one else will be making what he does any time soon, if ever again.

That alone puts him on a pedestal in a castle that Unai Emery will have a hell of a time besieging. It is probably going to be a long process. Just like everything else.