“No, he won’t, he doesn’t have a future at Arsenal” Campbell has his say on axed Arsenal star

Kevin Campbell doesn’t think there is a way back for Mesut Ozil into the Arsenal first team.

Ozil has not played for Arsenal since March, and Arsenal didn’t register the German to play for them in any competition this season.

His axe comes after he failed to convince Mikel Arteta in the many chances he was given when the Spaniard first became the club’s manager.

He was a regular in the first few matches under the Spaniard, but he didn’t take his chances, and on the return of football, Arteta decided to move past him by using other players.

The manager has had to repeatedly defend his decision to axe the German, but Campbell says that Ozil was given enough chances to prove himself, and he backs Arteta in his decision to sideline the World Cup winner.

Asked by Football Insider if the 92-times Germany international will play for Arsenal again, Campbell said: “No, he won’t, he doesn’t have a future at Arsenal. Mezut Ozil is not the here and now or the future of Arsenal.

“Mikel Arteta did the right thing freezing him out. He gave Ozil enough time to prove himself.

“At first Arteta played him, I think it was 10 or so games that he played him in. After lockdown there became an issue. They got back into training and maybe Ozil’s attitude was not right.

“We saw him at Brighton where he had the umbrella and all of this kind of thing and it went
pear shaped from there.

“Arteta cannot afford to be stroking Ozil’s huge ego. He has to pick the right players for the job. Arteta got success in the FA Cup final, against Liverpool in the league without Mezut Ozil anywhere near it.

“That is a big tick in his box because it shows that they can do it without him. He gave
him a clean slate at the start of the season but obviously his attitude was not right.

“He has to make the necessary moves. It is time he gave somebody else
an opportunity now.

“Ozil’s attitude ain’t right and that is the one thing that should be right every time when you are a big player.

“Obviously it cannot be right otherwise Mikel Arteta would have included him in the squad. That is the head and tail of it.

“It is nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with what he does off the field or the fact that he did not take a pay cut, it is about what he wasn’t doing on the training pitch.

“He has not been toeing the line or doing it on the training pitch and that is why he got dropped.

“Listen, we know that he is an unbelievable talent but you cannot afford to carry players anymore.

“You have to be able to graft and if you do not graft they will bring someone in who can do both.”

Ozil has continued to train with the Arsenal first team and it will be interesting to see if Arsenal alters their team registration in January to include him.

Tags Kevin Campbell Mesut Ozil

15 Comments

  1. At the same time, Freddie has said that he SHOULD have a future at The Arsenal.

    I guess, just like the fans, the players have their own opinions.

    At least Freddie has first hand experience with the player and still has a positive view about MO.

    The only one who will make the final decision though, is the present manager and we will just have to wait and see.

    1. I wish to “complain” that having let us all know the opnion of one ex Arsnela playwre who playwr almost 30 years ago, whay has this site not let us also know the opinion of every other ex Arsenal player still alive, on this matter.

      I will answer my own question though by saying, the cunning admins are probably planning to do EXACTLY THIS but one player at a time, thereby ensuring this site hundreds more Ozil nonsensical and irrelevant articles to continue boring us all silly!
      To KEN I would add that Freddie, who shares his OZIL view, lasted just two weeks but MA who instead shares mine and the majority on here, has already won two trophies in just 11 months. Discuss!

      1. Well Jon, as far as I can make out, apart from you and TMJW, the majority believing otherwise!!! DISCUSS!!!!

        As for Campbell and Freddie, you are very astute in your analysis – one played for the club 30 years ago, while the other managed, trained, selected and dropped the player concerned…. nothing like having first hand knowledge of the subject in question eh Jon!!!! DISCUSS!!!

  2. Arteta simply cannot pick Ozil, because of what KC said. Graft!

    Irrespective of the results, the one main consistent is our grafting/work-rate that Arteta has instilled into the squad. It’s why there’s only been just one shocking performance (Villa) under is reign.

    Ozil refuses to graft. So everything Arteta has built up, has only been possible because he isn’t using lazy players like Ozil. That good work would come undone very quickly if Ozil returns, if he hasn’t changed. Other players would question why he gets a free pass, whilst they are working their socks off!

    Ozil doesn’t deserve anymore chances, and it’s now three Arsenal managers in a row that have had issues with him. That said, if our attacking problems continue, and Ozil has shown a different attitude in training, it will be interesting to see if he does get reregistered.

    1. Thirdman…Ozil has not had a bad game under Arteta..so what are u talking about?something must have gone wrong in there for sure…Are u saying Ozil is too poor to even make the Europa squad??come on….Everything was designed in a way that we wouldn’t see him play…so we can’t ask for him to be reinstated….its obvious.

      1. Sorry, but Ozil has barely done anything for the last 3/4 years, and the same under Arteta. Ozil did fairly well in the home defeat to Chelsea, but cannot think of anything else he did?

    2. Graft is important but it doesn’t win matches. You can have 10 Elanys and would be relegated for obvious reasons ,can’t shoot,can’t deliver a good cross ,can’t read the game. Ive given up on Ozil ever playing for Arsenal again but considering the rubbish we’ve witnessed, I’m still kicking and screaming
      Is William good enough to lace Ozils boots?however he remains in Arteta’s plans much to the bemusement of most pundits who know their football.

      1. Completely agree with you that you need a base of grafters, with a sprinkling of talent to open things up. Problem is Ozil has proven time and time again, he isn’t the answer.

        He’s been getting a free pass for not grafting for years on the basis he delivers in the final third, which he hasn’t been doing for a long time. I think Ozil pre lockdown may have been top of the Arsenal list for half chances created, but was miles down the list on clear cut chances created. Even Mustafi was ahead of Ozil on clear cut chances!

    3. TMJW- We can see exactly where Arteta’s graft policy has got us can’t we. Next to nothing in regards attacking options, next to no goals and that’s with 11 grafters on the pitch. Getting us a long way don’t you think?

      1. @Phil

        2 trophies in his first 9 months
        European football, at a time we were looking more likely to be relegated
        Massive improvement against quality teams, winning about half of those games, being competitive in all of them
        Strong mentality
        Best defending we have seen at Arsenal in well over decade

        Arteta hasn’t got everything right, mainly our attacking, but he’s working on it, and has certainly earnt our trust.

        1. Not yet he hasn’t PAL, not by a long way. I agree he has tightened us up at the back, which needed to be done. However it’s goals that win games and he has failed to put out a side this season that has ever dominated even a single EPL game, Fulham away being the exception. Other than that opening game we have been poor.We we’re lucky to beat West Ham and fortunate to win against a very poor Sheffield United. Man Utd away was a 0-0 draw until we got the penalty so there’s 6 points there that I’m telling you would have Arteta struggling to convince any supporter of those results had not been as they were.
          He has the Boards backing, no doubt. But it was the fans who eventually had both Wenger and Emery sacked so don’t believe that will not happen again.

    4. Speaking of lazy:
      Paul Merson.
      He always seemed lazy then the numbers showed that he ran more than most in the team.

      Wilshere:
      “Look, Ozil… there was a lot of shouts about him being lazy, but I have never found him to be lazy.
      “I know this is easy to say, but if you looked at his stats after a game, he wasn’t at the bottom of it. He is also pretty quick, surprisingly.”

      So obviously people who call him lazy either have no clue or deliberately make incorrect statements .

  3. Apart from thomos who do you people think is better than OZIL in that mfield and never try to counter others people opinion becaus we have to see our selves as one.

  4. Terribly one sided call isn’t it? Sayonara Mezalt but 40% was your call and the rest was down to stupidly bad player management skills on the part of the two Spaniards.

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