When players in a team have dropped down the pecking order for a manager, we see them be, at least, involved in matches like a League Cup or a match against a small team.
But that isn’t the case with Mesut Ozil in Mikel Arteta’s team. The German midfielder has not been in action for the Gunners since March before the temporary suspension of football.
Now, the news currently making rounds in the media claims that Mesut Ozil has been paid a loyalty bonus reported to be worth £8 million.
Further reports claim that this loyalty bonus was part of the £350,000-a-week, three-year deal he signed with the Emirates outfit in January 2018. Meaning this was agreed on both sides, as reported by meilleurs casinos en ligne that same year.
The Athletic also claimed that the Premier League giants included this clause in Ozil’s contract to make sure the German playmaker remains at the Emirates Stadium till the expiration of his contract, which is set to end next summer.
Having Arsenal pay the loyalty bonus last month must’ve left a bad taste in their mouth considering the 31-year-old playmaker has not featured for the club since March and he is yet to be included in a matchday lineup for Arteta this 2020/21 campaign.
And since he had been seen to have dropped down the pecking order in Arteta’s team, Arsenal chiefs showed intentions of parting ways with Ozil by selling him off or terminating his contract, but none of that has happened so far.
Earlier this week, TyC Sport reported that Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr tabled a £5 million bid for Ozil intending to buy, but the German midfielder denied the offer himself as he wants to see out the rest of his contract, considering he is in his final year. And according to ESPN, Ozil is still hoping to feature for the Premier League giants once more.
Arsenal legend Martin Keown, on the other hand, believes that the German midfielder’s exclusion from the team has become unhealthy and they need to pay him off or sell him.
Speaking to Talk Sport, he said: “One assumes that Arteta would’ve given him an opportunity and he’s not happy with Ozil’s work ethic.
“He’s not someone the others can learn off. I think he’s got a good heart, because of what he does for charity, but when he questions giving up a percentage of his wage which affects everyone else, I don’t think it’s his place to do that. He needs to fall in line.
“If you think of the money it’s costing Arsenal… £18million-a-year, that’s the equivalent of the interest payments when they took out a loan on the Emirates Stadium.
“That’s how restrictive that has been. They need to cut their losses and pay him off.
“It sends a message to the group, creates a new culture, and allows them to move on because at the moment it’s become unhealthy.”
While Ozil might be trying to work his way back into the Arsenal team, Arteta might have just been restricted in what he can do as some rumors claim that the exclusion of Ozil from the team comes from the board,, not the Spanish manager, which had also been stated by several mobile online casinos earlier.
Ozil, who has been with the Gunners since the summer of 2013 after joining Real Madrid, will likely be parting ways with the English club next summer or during the winter transfer window in January next year.