Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has backed Mikel Arteta’s controversial decision to exclude Mesut Ozil from his Arsenal squad.
‘Loyalty is hard to come by these days’ was the response Ozil offered in a lengthy statement after discovering he hadn’t made Arsenal’s 25-man squad for this season’s Premier League.
An exit for the German, who is out of contract next summer, is inevitable at this point.
Arteta has since gone on record to take full responsibility for his former teammate’s omission. He made it clear the decision was a football one that was based on being unable to bring out the best in Ozil.
Now the 38-year-old’s Leicester counterpart, Rodgers, has backed his verdict by claiming he can’t have a player who is unwilling to put the work in regardless of his talents.
“I’d be very much like Mikel. Ozil’s a talented player, but it depends on your structure,” said Rodgers as quoted in the Daily Mail.
“We need every player to contribute to the defensive aspect of the game as well as the attacking aspect.
“The team have to operate with one brain. They have to function and work together. There will be teams where there is more freedom, but less structure.
“Ozil’s a wonderful talent and very creative, absolutely. He can make the last pass, but it’s about the team.
“It’s about marrying the individual qualities of the player into the team and if you feel that player can’t press the game or doesn’t want to press the game, it has an effect on your attacking structure and your defensive structure.
“If one person doesn’t do their job, then you can suffer. He’s a talent, but, as always with talent, you have to be a working talent.
“I always say to my attacking players, ‘Don’t run forward if you can’t run back’.
“You have to be able to do the dirty work. This is the highest level of the game and, at that level, you have to be able to do both sides. You think of any top team in the world and you think of some of the attacking players.
“If you look at Bayern Munich, the current European champions, and you look at Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller, for instance, the guys that play down the sides. Look at how hard they work.
“Look at Liverpool with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane – the work he puts in. That’s what you have got to do. You can’t carry anyone.
“It’s OK having talent, but, at the highest level, you have to be working talents if you are going to play in the big games for the big teams.”
Rodgers’ Leicester side will head to the Emirates on Sunday night for a Premier League match against Arteta’s Arsenal.
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