Arsenal and Mesut Ozil: If you are not going to play him…

Unai Emery clearly is not going to play Mesut Ozil this season. If that is going to be the case, surely it is best for Arsenal to offload the £350,000 per week midfielder, right?

Mesut Ozil is the most divisive footballer in the world. I cannot remember an individual player driving such a wedge between those that love him and those that do not. There is an impassioned support of him and his play that goes beyond anything that I have ever seen for a single footballer. It is highly curious, — and vastly interesting — to say the least.

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This leads to an intense and impassioned defence of the ostensibly heroic Ozil whenever someone dares criticise him. As many journalists and analysts have encountered in the past, if you are brave enough to suggest that Ozil played anything less then perfectly, you are lambasted for your ambition and lack of footballing nous, primarily by fans who have never kicked a ball in their life.

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This season, this vitriol has turned to Arsenal head coach Unai Emery, who has finally had enough of Ozil and his languid antics. Ozil has made just two appearances all season. One of them came in the Carabao Cup. He has been dropped from the last three matchday squads entirely, with Emery leaving no doubt as to why. There was no mysterious injury this time. Ozil simply was not wanted.

For some, this was an egregious misstep. How could you not feature a player of Ozil’s quality, craft and creativity? Surely a World Cup winner of his calibre should be starting every game? This was the inevitable backlash to Emery’s decision. And there are fair arguments on both sides. There are valid reasons to start Ozil and valid reasons to drop him. But the man who makes the decision is Emery. His is the only opinion that matters.

And if Emery is to continue not using Ozil as he has done this season, what is the point in keeping someone who is a drain on the wage budget to the tune of £350,000 per week? If you are going to pay him, play him; but if playing him is not an option, as it seemingly appears to be, then paying him becomes utterly futile.

This week, rumours again surfaced that Arsenal are considering offloading Ozil in January, with Fenerbache the next club to be named as a potential landing spot. They tried to find a buyer in the summer but could not, those eye-watering wages the stumbling block in any possible sale, but are now rumoured to be ready to make another push to rid the squad of a major waste on resources.

Whatever your thoughts on Ozil and his impact are, surely it is obvious that if Emery is not going to play him and play him regularly, selling, at any price, becomes the only option? You may disagree, vehemently, with Emery’s initial treatment and diagnosis of Ozil and his influence on the team, but once those selection decisions have been made, the next course of action is crystal clear.

Ozil is not justifying his £350,000 per week, whether that be his fault or Emery’s. And so, the question of a sale should not really be one at all. Arsenal are looking to reinvest in value, and Ozil’s could not be any lower right now. If you are not going to play him, selling, any way possible, is the only and obvious consequence.