This time last year Arsenal were trying everything to force Mesut Ozil to agree to rip up his contract and/or accept a transfer.
The club had long regretted paying a salary over the odds for a player over the age of 30 who would have little resale value.
Banning the German from attending the FA Cup Final, not registering him in their squad, leaking out that he refused a pay cut, not backing him over his comments about how Muslims were treated in China …. the Gunners did everything legally they could do to make someone feel unwanted until he eventually gave in.
A year on, we have another player over the age of 30 on a wage that makes him hard to offload…..
………
There is nothing to doubt the truth that our captain has broken a club’s disciplinary policy and needs to be accountable for his actions.
Yet until his employers choose to reveal what the breach was and/or a refusal to apologise, I can’t help but feel yet again the priority is to slash the wage bill, and this gives Arteta a convenient excuse.
Bear in mind that Pepe is equally being frozen out and Lacazette is free to sign with a foreign club next month.
I refuse to believe our for-football reasons.
Former Gunners like Ian Wright and Martin Keown believe that the manager is making a mistake by prolonging the drama by extending Auba’s omission to this weekend.
If there’s a valid reason, then Arteta would be doing himself a favour by giving us more clarity, because long term he will be judged if this is another talent he has washed his hands of.
I believe a top coach gets the best out of the resources available to him, whereas ours has been allowed to wash his hands of talent.
The amount to be loaned out, released, paid to sit at home …. that list is getting too long.
So is the list of scapegoats our boss hides behind.
Bear in mind Auba was dropped after we lost 3 out of 4 fixtures.
I believe the Spaniard sacrificed his own credibility by pretending that Ozil being dropped was his own personal choice.
While many Gooners liked the idea of the manager supposedly having standards he wouldn’t tolerate not being met, finishing 8th meant the decision didn’t work. Indeed I’m still waiting for us to replace his creativity.
When your beating Southampton and West Ham at home your vindicated in your thought process. Long term we will get our answer.
4th could be up for grabs; it might just come down to the side who can put a consistent run together.
I maintain our best chances would be having a happy, confident, Aubameyang. That’s unless we have something up our sleeve in the transfer window.
I would like to see our manager show that he can work with an individual on the training pitch, put an arm round the shoulder and get the best out of a player.
Just giving up on him is not acceptable.
It’s all good talking about your non-negotiable standards, but that only means anything if you qualify for the Champions League.
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Dan