Tony Adams has surprisingly leapt to the defence of Arsenal outcast Mesut Ozil, and he claims that the midfielder still has something to offer.
Ozil has been axed from the Arsenal team since the restart as he continues to struggle to convince Mikel Arteta that he can do a job for him.
He had been given more than enough chances when Arteta became the club’s manager, but the German didn’t repay the trust with good performances.
He has now been dropped from the team since the restart and he looks set to finally leave the club if they can find a buyer for him.
However, Tony Adams seems to rate the German highly and the former Arsenal man claimed that he is a huge talent before questioning if Mikel Arteta is making use of him in the best possible manner.
He reckoned that the German is a top talent, but he isn’t surrounded by players that can help him express himself.
The former Arsenal captain told Stadium Astro: “I think I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s a very laid-back kind of guy, he doesn’t get too flustered with anything to be honest with you. He just goes a little bit – what we would call in our day – going through the motions; but players are very different today, they’re not questioned in training.
“There was an article that came out recently about Kieran Tierney being questioned because Tierney was getting a few tackles in in training and he was asked to take things a little bit easier. I kind of went, ‘Hold on a minute, no, no, no, you test them, you rattle them, you get involved’.
“I think Ozil, he’s a very calm, sweet man, so don’t judge him too quickly. He is a talent, and half the job of a head coach is getting the best out of that talent.
“So you could swing it on Arteta. The minute you don’t get results, this is going to be more of an issue. If we lose in the FA Cup final, I think people will start then going, ‘Actually, how Arteta are you dealing with this situation? What are you going to do?’
“Then all the questions you’ve fired at me, are the ones the public are going to be saying, ‘Come on then Ozil, what you posting on your social media? Are you applying yourself? What are you doing?’
“Is there anybody at the club saying that to him? ‘Why are you doing your clothing range, what’s that about Ozil?’ Is there was anyone at the club, around Mesut Ozil, passing on the message of, ‘Come on, what’s going on here? What are you doing?’
“There’s too many outside influences and that’s where I think the Ozil brand comes into it, and the people on the periphery, and the agents get involved.
“Actually, if you look underneath all that, there’s a really sweet human being in there, really shy boy, that has enormous talent, but he’s surrounded by a lot of mess.”
