Peter Crouch says bringing back Mesut Ozil will not solve Arsenal’s problems, and backed Mikel Arteta in his decision to sideline the German.
Ozil hasn’t played for Arsenal since March and he wasn’t registered to play for them until at least January.
The German has been told that he can leave the club, but he wants to remain until the end of his current contract with them.
Arsenal’s major problem on their current poor run of form is creativity and Ozil has been seen by some as the solution to the problem.
Several pundits and former Arsenal players have urged Arteta to bring the German back and make use of his talents while he can.
Arteta is, however, adamant that he has made the right choice in axing the former Real Madrid man.
A fan emailed Mail Sports columnist, Crouch asking if the return of Ozil will make things better for the Gunners, in his opinion, and he answered in the negative.
He wrote: “No, Chris. I don’t think for one minute that bringing him back — no matter how much of a class player he is — will spark the change they need. I can understand people asking why Mikel Arteta hasn’t tried it, but the manager has clearly made his mind up.
“This issue isn’t sustainable. I played for Tottenham, but I have huge respect for Arsenal. The Arsenal I knew wouldn’t have put itself in a position where a player is able to tweet after a game, hinting at division and undermining the manager, as Ozil has done.
“As it stands, Arsenal are heading towards a relegation battle and it shows how badly things have gone since Arsene Wenger left.
“The Unai Emery experiment was a disaster and at the moment you cannot see where the next three points will come from.
“I hear people say they will strengthen in January, but who are they going to buy? More to the point, who is going to want to come to the Emirates?
“Yes, it was all roses in July when they won the FA Cup, but the momentum from that win over Chelsea has completely gone.
“It needs more than Ozil to get it back.”
I agree with Crouchie. We need a towering target man who’s willing to sit on the bench, but not someone who’s reluctant to do air duels like Crouch, Aubameyang, Henry and Mertesacker either
The new CF must be brave and not hesitant to risk his body, just like what Luiz and Jimenez did last month. If the ones from Ligue 1 and Bundesliga are too pricey, I think Benteke would be available at a discounted price in January
Or Giroud? The best target man there is 🙂
He can play another 2 years at least.
Giroud is already 34 years old and I don’t think he’d listen to his ex-teammate’s commands. Besides, I doubt he’d have good relationship with Aubameyang and Lacazette
“who are we going to buy, who is going to want to come to the Emirates? Well, we could start by targeting French teams looking to offload players on the cheap to avoid financial ruin.
Isn’t there a new ban on travel to and from the UK connected new virus strains? Surely this will impact our ability to get new players in the transfer window. Just one more hurdle for us to navigate. Maybe we will be forced to consider only players based in the UK.