Arsenal legend Ray Parlour remains a big fan of Mesut Ozil but isn’t convinced the German will be remembered as an all-time great at the club.
Mesut Ozil will not be remembered as an all-time great at Arsenal, claims Ray Parlour. The former Gunners star is also of the opinion that Arsene Wenger and Bukayo Saka are next in line for statues at Emirates Stadium.
A talking point of late has been the legacy that will be left in north London when the German eventually makes an exit from the club.
A deal in the January window is said to be on the cards, with Mikel Arteta conceding that Ozil could be allowed to leave the club in the coming days.
Should the 32-year-old fail to leave the Gunners this January, he’ll eventually leave at the summer when his contract runs through its length.
Ozil will depart after eight seasons at Arsenal that have delivered 254 appearances, 44 goals, 77 assists, and four FA Cup triumphs.
The Gunners faithful are divided on the opinion of Ozil as a club legend and Parlour has claimed the German is not deserving of that ‘tag’.
“He (Ozil) is a very talented player, but the consistency wasn’t there for him,” Arsenal legend Parlour told talkSPORT.
“If you go back to some of the opportunities where he’s playing in big games and you need to shine as a leader and he didn’t. He sort of went missing in games.”
“But statue? They’ve got the right three at the moment, absolutely. There’s [Thierry] Henry, [Dennis] Bergkamp and Tony Adams.”
“The next statue that goes up at Arsenal should be Arsene Wenger. That’s the next statue.”
“I wouldn’t look at any players at the moment who deserve a statue.”
“I’d go back to probably [Cesc] Fabregas was a better player [than Ozil] with what he achieved at Arsenal. Then you look at [Aaron] Ramsey before he left, he wanted to stay, but they couldn’t agree a deal.”
“[Jack] Wilshere when he was at Arsenal, [Santi] Cazorla, what a player he was, you look at the career he had at Arsenal.”
Parlour added: “You look at what he (Ozil) has achieved in his career and I can see why people say he’s a legend. He’s won a World Cup.”
“At times in games he was absolutely brilliant, but he didn’t do it on a consistent basis. That was his problem.”
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