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The Arsenal players are totally behind Mesut Ozil despite his ongoing exile from Mikel Arteta’s first team plans.
That’s according to Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who says Ozil is still part of the team despite the former German international being left out of Arsenal’s Europa League and Premier League teams.
Ozil hasn’t played for the Gunners since March 7 and now can’t do so until January at the earliest. Arteta said Wednesday that the midfielder hadn’t done enough on a daily basis to force his thinking.
Previously, Ozil had issued a statement criticizing Arsenal for not reciprocating the loyalty he felt he had shown to the club over the past eight seasons.
But Maitland-Niles said the Arsenal players will not take part in the dispute between Ozil and the club as they focus on Thursday’s Europa League opener against Rapid Vienna.
(Image: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
“The club is behind Mesut, we are a team, that will always be the case until Mesut decides to make his decision and what he wants to do,” Maitland-Niles told a news conference.
“Ultimately, we’re focused on the game for now. Then when we get back to training camp, we can talk about whether he wants to pass as a team.”
“We are focused on the game from now on. And when we finish the game and all three points are secured, then we can focus on going back to training camp and resolving the situation as a team.
When asked about the decision to exclude Ozil from the Europa League and Premier League teams, Maitland-Niles replied: “That is something you will have to ask the club.
“We as players haven’t really thought about it much.
“We’ve literally been on the go all day. We had our training session and took our flight here, so we haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and process anything as a team.”
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