Arsenal: Ray Parlour’s Mesut Ozil-Unai Emery dynamic wrong way round

Ray Parlour has stated that Mesut Ozil could force Unai Emery out of Arsenal like Neymar forced him out of Paris Saint-German. Surely, the player-manager dynamic is the wrong way round if that is the case.

Unai Emery did not really have a chance at Paris Saint-Germain. Although he was armed with an essentially endless budget that allowed him to buy any player in the world, including breaking the world-record transfer fee and then matching that very record in two successive summers, the players that were brought in, as well as the strong personalities that were already there, were not cohesive to a manager wanting to implement his own style.

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Emery and the players, led by all-world and notoriously egotistical Neymar, clashed. In the end, it was Emery who lost that battle. Given the power of the players at the club, he was never going to win it.

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Ray Parlour has now suggested that the same thing could happen at Arsenal. Neymar, this time, is Mesut Ozil, who Emery has not likened himself to this season, and the clash is set to happen this summer. Will the club choose the player or the manager? Speaking on TalkSport, Parlour argued:

"“It’s been a little bit (like) PSG under Neymar. Neymar ended up getting him (Emery) the sack. He lost the dressing room and Neymar was pulling the strings there. Maybe it could be the same at Arsenal.”"

But this scenario, like the PSG scenario, is completely and utterly the wrong way round. The players should never have more power than the manager.

In fairness to Parlour, he is not claiming that this should happen. He is merely positing the possibility of it unfolding should the Arsenal board side with their £350,000-a-week investment who is globally the biggest commercial figure at the club over a manager who has only been there for one year — it is not inconceivable that the Gunners choose business, Ozil, over football, Emery.

But it would be a major error on the club’s part should they make such a decision. Many of the Ozil fanboys have lynched Emery for his treatment of the German World Cup-winner. But it is Emery’s right to treat his players how he wishes. He is the manager, after all, and this is his team. If he believes that Ozil does not fit into what he wants to do, then he is perfectly justified to marginalise and ultimately sell the languid and luxurious midfielder.

Emery is the leader of this team. Like Pep Guardiola chose to rid Joe Hart at Manchester City. Or Sir Alex Ferguson sold Jaap Stam and Ruud van Nistelrooy in their primes. If players do not fit the style that the manager wants to play, then the manager has every right to sell them, no matter how brilliant or popular they may be.

That decision can then be criticised. If the team is worse for it, then the manager must take responsibility. But it does not negate the justification of the decision at the time it was made. If Emery wants to sell Ozil, then he can, and should. The player(s) should never be in control.