Mesut Ozil came close to leaving on deadline day and his days are surely numbered.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was reportedly ready to green-light Mesut Ozil’s departure from the club on transfer deadline day.
According to the Daily Mirror, the German playmaker was the subject of a late offer from a club in Qatar, but the club blocked his exit due to there not being enough time to sign a replacement.
This is despite the Mirror adding that Arteta might otherwise have been ready to axe Ozil, which makes sense after seeing how poorly he played against Burnley in Sunday’s Premier League stalemate.
The former Real Madrid man was anonymous at Turf Moor, getting subbed off after 63 minutes, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that talk of a revival under new manager Arteta was perhaps premature.
Ozil has not looked good enough for Arsenal for some time now, and if he can’t turn up in a game like this, it’s absolutely right that the club look to offload him in the summer.
It remains to be seen if Ozil can perhaps revive his Gunners career in the coming months before the next transfer window, but we’re yet to see another performance like that hugely promising one in the 2-0 win over Manchester United on New Year’s Day.
That’s the Ozil that we all want to see, but the Mirror’s report above perhaps suggests Arteta no longer thinks we’re likely to see it again.