I'll decide when to leave Arsenal: Ozil

Mesut Ozil, seen here during the Premier League match against Southampton, has not played a minute for Arsenal since June. PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON • Mesut Ozil has dug his heels in, insisting he will not be forced out of Arsenal despite the English Premier League club's desperation to get him off the wage bill.

The 2014 World Cup winner with Germany did not play a single minute for the Gunners after the English top flight restarted in June, and was not even on the bench.

It appears he is taking the same path as former Netherlands centre-back Winston Bogarde, who famously refused to leave Chelsea despite the club's attempts to sell him, preferring to run down his £40,000 (S$72,000)-a-week deal in the reserves till it expired in 2004.

Ozil, 31, earns a reported £350,000 a week, but has rarely provided good value since his 2013 move from Real Madrid.

However, with one year left on his deal, he remains in a position of power with regards to his future.

While Turkish clubs are said to be keen, they cannot afford his wages and, with little interest elsewhere, he has every intention of remaining at the Emirates next season.

Ozil told The Athletic on Thursday: "Things have been difficult but I love Arsenal. I'll decide when I go, not other people.

"I'll give everything I have for this club. Situations like these will never break me, they only make me stronger. I showed in the past that I can come back into the team and I will show it again."

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta claimed the player's exile was down to "football reasons", but Ozil, who started all 10 of the club's league games until the coronavirus pandemic prompted the competition's shutdown in March, believes he deserves another chance.

Arteta and most of the Arsenal squad accepted a 12.5 per cent pay cut in April as a result of the financial fallout from the pandemic, although Ozil was one of three players who refused.

He is concerned that decision is being held against him and feels that there is an agenda to get him to leave against his will.

"I guess that's because it is me and people have been trying for two years to destroy me, to make me unhappy, to push an agenda they hope will turn the supporters against me and paint a picture that is not true," he said.

Separately, Arsenal yesterday announced the signing of Willian, 32, on a free transfer from Chelsea.

Arteta lauded the Brazil midfielder, who had nine league goals for the Blues last term and will earn a reported £200,000 a week until 2023, as "a player that can really make a difference for us".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 15, 2020, with the headline I'll decide when to leave Arsenal: Ozil. Subscribe