If you managed to catch the game against Chivas last night or even the highlights yesterday, you would’ve noticed that star man Mesut Ozil was present at the game to watch his teammates on display out in LA. Arsenal won the match 3-1 and it was a game that showed that some players are already getting back to full fitness and showing signs of quality, despite having only a few weeks training.
Ozil may not have featured for the Gunners yesterday but he was present on the bench with his colleagues to watch the team in action. He tweeted after the game that it wouldn’t be long before he returns to full training now that he has finished his holiday, although I distinctively remember Arsene Wenger previously saying that Ozil and other key players wouldn’t return to training until the final week prior to the season opener.
Wenger had said that Ozil would be one of the last players to return to pre-season training alongside Koscielny and Giroud, given how far he got with Germany at Euro 2016, however as Ramsey has now returned to training, I can’t imagine Ozil being much further behind in the schedule. Koscielny and Giroud aren’t expected to link back up with the Gunners until next week, although Koscielny may be asked to return earlier due to the injuries in defence.
Everybody knows how important Ozil is to this Arsenal side and a large part of our success in matches comes from his creative ability. We will need to be in full swing against the likes of Liverpool and Leicester, so having a fully fit Ozil would certainly help our chances.
As Ozil has already linked up with the squad’s tour, I’m sure he will want to get back to playing as soon as possible, so what’s really stopping Wenger from allowing Ozil to get game time? It may be wise for such a key player, who is likely to play the majority of games next season, to have a longer rest over the course of the summer, but a bit of light training surely would help Wenger’s cause of having as many fit players available for the Premier League opener as possible. With such a tough start ahead of us, an early return for Ozil may be exactly what we need!
By AH