Former Arsenal boss George Graham says the club have been poor with their business and must now look to end ties with a certain Mesut Ozil.
George Graham has criticized Arsenal for the way they have handled Mesut Ozil and his contract situation. It is becoming a case of the Gunners having to cut losses on the player.
The German became the highest-paid player at the club when he committed to a three-year extension worth £350,000 per week in 2018.
Ozil was a key member of Arsene Wenger’s squad at the time. Following the Frenchman’s departure that summer, things took a different turn.
New boss at the time Unai Emery only used the German sparingly and appeared to freeze him out of the first-team setup.
Arteta came in as his replacement in December 2019 and one of his first actions was to restore Ozil to the first team. The 32-year-old enjoyed a decent run in the first team until March 7 where he played his last game so far at the club against West Ham.
The ex-Real Madrid man has not seen a single minute of action for Arsenal this term. He was also left out of Arteta’s latest Premier League and Europa League squads and it looks unlikely things will change before his current deal expires next summer.
Graham cannot understand why he was given such a lucrative contract in the first place, and says that even if the club are able to get him off their books in 2021, they will still have to pay a high price for their mistake.
“It’s very difficult. The first thing you say is, ‘who is the person who sorted the contract?” the former Gunners boss told talkSPORT.
“Did the rest of the board see that contract and agree to it? That was a bad decision. We’ve got to try and get rid of him and pay half his wages if he goes to another club, but even then it’s too expensive.”
Graham added on Ozil being the wrong fit for Arteta’s set-up: “He’s got to be in a team that’s dominating games and he’s got to be on the ball as much as possible.”
“Without the ball, just no. He is definitely lacking, not even at the top level. Without the ball he’s not good enough. With the ball he can be good enough, but he has to be in a good team.”
“He was up and down like a yo-yo under Arsene Wenger. He obviously isn’t playing into the new manager’s style. You play when you’ve got the ball but you also play when you haven’t got possession. He’s just not up to the standard that Arteta wants.”
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