Ian Wright insists Arsenal must clarify their position on Mesut Ozil.
The 30-year-old continues to be overlooked by Unai Emery as the German playmaker was omitted from the 18-man squad in their 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat to Spurs last night.
Ozil has missed the past couple of games due to reported back spasms, but the German playmaker is now fit and available and still finds himself out-of-favour under Emery.
Reports have suggested that Arsenal could offload Ozil when the January transfer window opens, with Inter Milan and Manchester United being touted as possible destinations.
Speculation over Ozil’s future continues to build, and Wright believes those in charge of the Gunners need to clarify where they stand with the former Real Madrid man:
“I’ve got to say now, we have got to find out what’s going on with Ozil. He weren’t in the squad again.
“Is he ill? What’s wrong? We need to know because we cannot afford to carry that kind of weight in respect of wages and find out what is going on with our so-called star player.
“Is he leaving in January? Is he leaving at some stage? Is he in the manager’s plans? It doesn’t look like it.
“So they’re going to have to sort that out but as long as the guys get together and go again, that’s the main thing.”
Ozil only signed his new £350,000-a-week deal to remain at Arsenal in February after much negotiations between the club and his representatives.
However, the deal was struck when Arsene Wenger was still in charge of the club.
Emery doesn’t appear to keen on Ozil and this was made apparent when the Spaniard benched the playmaker for their 2-1 win over Bournemouth last month because of the lack of work-rate and physicality the German possesses.
Ozil has shown glimpses of what he is capable of, but Emery has been left frustrated by his inconsistency as of late which has led to the midfielder starting just one game and playing just 20 minutes of Premier league football since November 11th.
If things don’t change between Emery and Ozil in the next few weeks, Arsenal may well decide to cash in on the player and thus free up the wage budget in doing so.
