Ozil drops hint on Arsenal future after Arteta humbling at Man City

Mesut-Ozil-Arsenal

Mesut Ozil has has taken to social media to provide a public demonstration of his future intentions as an Arsenal player.

The German, 31, was curiously left out of The Gunners’ match day squad ahead of their clash with Man City.

With hopes hanging by a thread of securing Champions League qualification, the first match back took on greater importance.

All hopes of a flying start were quickly extinguished, however, with both Pablo Mari and Granit Xhaka succumbing to early injuries.

Substitute David Luiz deputised for Mari, and produced a nightmarish display that hamstrung The Gunners at every turn.

The 3-0 defeat delivered a hammer blow to Arsenal’s European hopes. Questions were also quickly levied at boss Mikel Arteta post-match.

One avenue of enquiry regarded Ozil’s absence, with the Spanish boss describing his omission as “tactical.”

“It was a tactical reason,” he said before adding when pushed further: “Because I need players in other positions as well, so that’s why I decided to leave him out.”

Ozil is the club’s top earner, pocketing a weekly salary of around £300,000-per-week.

 

With just 12 months remaining on his current deal, the World Cup winner’s future remains up in the air.

However, if the player has his way, it’ll remain with Arsenal after reaffirming his loyalty to the club on Twitter.

Pictured clutching the club badge, the accompanying caption stated: “No matter what.”

 

Arteta on Luiz’s display

Luiz’s rustiness was key to the heavy loss, and the Brazilian is out of contract at the end of June.

“I don’t know what will happen with his contract,” Arteta said of the centre-back’s future.

 

Regarding his diastrous display, Arteta said: “I know what happened today. I know the way David reacted because I know him well, not only as a player but a person as well.

“There was a reason why I didn’t select him from the start and he had to play because Pablo got injured.

“He’s always going to try and give you his best.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal have been put on alert after Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso admitted a Gunners-linked forward may be sold.