Unai Emery’s decision to leave Mesut Ozil out of a third successive matchday squad is proof the midfielder’s Arsenal career is OVER, Gunners icon Ray Parlour believes.
Ozil has made just two appearances this season, starting against Watford and Nottingham Forest last month, as he deals with being a rotation player under Spanish coach Emery.
A lack of game time could be attributed to various factors, and the true worry for Ozil is the fact Emery appears to not trust him enough to include him in matchday squads.
In fact, Ozil has not been called up by Emery for any of United’s past three matches, missing from the squads for clashes against Manchester United, Standard Liege and Bournemouth.
Missing the Europa League rout of Liege was a real statement of Ozil’s position in Emery’s squad given the starting XI was comprised of multiple youngsters playing in positions the German could have taken up.
But Emery favoured the likes of Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles ahead of him, and Parlour believes this proves Ozil has no future in north London.
Not that the ex-Gunner disagrees with Emery, however, saying the youngsters are only being given opportunities ahead of Ozil because they deserve them.
LIVE on talkSPORT
Check out all the live commentaries coming up across the talkSPORT network this week
- Bolton vs Blackpool (Monday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Sunderland vs Grimsby (Tuesday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Germany vs Argentina (Wednesday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Russia vs Scotland (Thursday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Czech Republic vs England (Friday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT
- Coventry vs Tranmere (Sunday, 12pm) – talkSPORT 2
“I’ve been really impressed with the youngsters coming through [at Arsenal],” said Parlour on Monday’s Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast. “They’ve got a lot of people now.
“Ozil isn’t even in the squad now! I think that’s the end of his career at Arsenal, because you’ve got youngsters who deserve an opportunity more than him at the moment.
“[Bukayo] Saka has come in on the left, [Gabriel] Martinelli going forward has been excellent, [Dani] Ceballos who played at the weekend…
“So they’ve got lots of options now.”
You can watch Ray Parlour discussing Arsenal and Mesut Ozil, in full, above…
Click Here: France Football Shop