Arsenal: It worked for Paul Pogba, can’t it work for Mesut Ozil?

Arsenal need to find a solution to Mesut Ozil, and while they can’t do what Manchester United did for Paul Pogba, they can come close, can’t they?

Arsenal and Mesut Ozil were a dream match when it first happened – he broke the financial handcuff, he was the first superstar in ages, and he was a player that, as I keep putting it, was straight from Arsene Wenger’s own mind.

Nowadays, things are different. Unai Emery has no interest in playing Mesut Ozil, who rarely even sees the bench, is determined to fight for his place at the club, by his own admission. Honestly, I don’t mind that mentality, but we really need to see it, and he isn’t going to get that chance if he… never gets that chance.

Thankfully, just down the road in Manchester, there was a similar situation developing. Paul Pogba, a known superstar, was being kept out by Jose Mourinho and as a result, the entire club was suffering.

When Jose Mourinho left, Pogba was released and all that pent up frustration went wild, and just like that, he was back from the dead, scoring, assisting, and being the all-purpose midfielder that everyone except apparently Jose Mourinho knew he could be.

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Arsenal aren’t going to fire Unai Emery, nor should they. And yes, that’s what had to happen to queue up Pogba for his glorious return, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way it could have happened, and now that we’ve entered into this era of Ozil’s exile, even I am wondering how it can be made right.

How can we make Ozil do a Pogba?

Well, one way is to actually give him a chance. And I can’t believe I’m advocating for that, but nothing else is working and we have a long way until the end of the season, with a lot of drama still to come if Ozil continues to sit there and send out tweets about being a man of this club.

There is a certain value in winding a player up, in showing them that you’re serious about what you’re doing. The idea is that you end up with a Pogba situation, where the true power of the player comes through and you realize that there was a point to this all after all.

That’s the idea, at least. Now, whether Emery wants anything to do with Ozil or not is another question that, while we think we know the answer, maybe… just maybe… we don’t.