Özil, the fallen idol

Mesut Ozil He has already played his last game with the Arsenal. He did it at the beginning of March, against the West Ham, and attended Lacazette in the winning goal. Since that afternoon, the German midfielder has not played again for a single minute since his return after the coronavirus – he has only been on the bench twice – and was even ruled out by Mikel Arteta by the end of the FA Cup, arguing a back injury, which allowed him to fly to Turkey while his teammates beat the Chelsea in the historical Wembley. While Özil wrote weeks before on Twitter that he was ready, Arsenal announced that he had an injury.

After seven years as a gunner, Özil's departure has been anticipated in recent months: he does not count for the first team and He is the footballer who earns the most by far (more than 360,000 euros a week), above others like Aubameyang, much more decisive, so that in the absence of a year before his contract ends, a way out is sought.

And the problem comes here. As there are no teams willing to pay that salary for Özil, 31, Arsenal are considering reaching an agreement with the German to compensate him for the more than 18 million that are missing from his contract until 2021. Without going any further, his representative warned weeks ago that he will not choose a destination until 2021, implying that he will not force his departure.

In this last season, Özil has only played 23 games in total (1 goal and 3 assists), his worst record since arriving in England, far from the 12 goals and 14 assists he gave in 2016-17, without a doubt the better since he left the Real Madrid on way to London. In total, 33 goals and 54 assists in 184 games in the Premier League divided into seven campaigns.

With the money that Arsenal saves on the former Real Madrid footballer, the aim is to offer a new contract for Aubameyang, which also ends in one year, as well as to convince Willian to join the project after saying goodbye to the Chelsea this very week. And he's not the only one on the exit ramp. They are also Guendouzi, Sokratis or Maitland-Niles.

Meanwhile, Özil was photographed during his trip to Turkey with Okan buruk, coach of the Basaksehir, brand new league champion this season. In fact, there have already been several players with a past in the Premier such as Demba Ba, Clichy, Robinho or Skrtel.