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.