Mesut Ozil was in his beloved ancestral home country Turkey while his teammates at Arsenal were at the Wembley Stadium in London taking on Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
The 31-year-old former German international could not hide his joy after Arsenal defeated Chelsea 2-1 to land a record 14th FA Cup title. He took to both Instagram and Twitter to congratulate the team for the unprecedented victory.
In his congratulatory message he shared hours after the match, Ozil shared a picture showing his teammates celebrating the victory at Wembley Stadium. In the caption, the German midfielder wrote: “Great job my boys!!! 🏆👏🏼❤️#LondonIsRed 🔴 #YaGunnersYa #FACupWinners”.
The Present Reality of Mesut Ozil
Ozil has been at Arsenal since 2013 after he joined the club from Spanish La Liga giants, Real Madrid, for a then Arsenal’s record transfer deal worth €47 million. When his initial contract with Arsenal was about to expire, he signed a contract extension which has been earning him a whopping £350,000 a week. As at the point he extended his contract, the 31-year-old midfielder was arguably the most important player at the club.
Ozil’s fortunes at the club suffered a massive overturn under the reign of Unai Emery. He was consistently benched by the Spanish tactician until the manager was sacked due to poor run of games in December 2019.
When Mike Arteta, a much younger tactician took over from Emery, fans and pundits thought that would mark the end of the misfortune of Ozil at the club. This perception was based on the fact that Arteta was Ozil’s teammate and captain for almost three years before the manager left for Manchester City in 2016.
The first few weeks of Arteta reign saw Ozil having better game time. But suddenly, the manager began to use the midfielder sparingly, and then, he was completely left out of the equation since March 2020.
The first excuse Mikel Arteta gave in defense of his decision to drop Ozil was that the decision was made based on tactical reasons. Afterward, the story changed that the German midfielder had a back injury and then ended up not playing any part in the progress of the club since football returned in England on June 17.
This means that since March, Ozil has not played a single competitive match despite not having any confirmed injury. He was left out of the squad completely in most of the matches just like the FA Cup final on Saturday.
In total, Ozil has managed to play only 23 matches in all competitions in the just concluded 2019-2020 season, meaning that he was not featured in at least 23 matches in all competitions this season.
According to reports, the management of Arsenal are ready to let him go despite still having one year left on his contract with the club. However, Ozil’s agent, Dr. Erkut Sogut, has insisted that his client is ready to complete the remaining one year on his current contract with the club.
It is also Ozil’s FA Cup victory too
Though the manager of Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has failed to make public why Ozil has become so unwanted at the club, the speculation is that the club is overwhelmed by the £350,000-per-week wages of Ozil who is not offering much whenever he is not on the ball.
This has been one point some fans, pundits, and especially his critics have been complaining about. Once Arsenal lose possession, Ozil hardly shows interest in trying to win back the possession. Hence, he is seen as being a better player when he is on the ball and being the worse when he is off it.
Just like Ozil, his counterpart at the club, Matteo Guendouzi, has also run out of favor in terms of being selected for games at the club. But despite how little their effort was in ensuring that Arsenal won their 14th FA Cup, the manager of the club said they both deserve to share in the credit.
“We don’t have Matteo here and Mesut but they deserve credit as they played their part,” Mikel Arteta said after Arsenal’s FA Cup victory on Saturday.
