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Former Arsenal assistant Freddie Ljungberg has claimed that there is still room for Mesut Ozil on Mikel Arteta’s side.
Ozil has not played a competitive game for Arsenal since March and has been left out of the club’s Premier League and Europa League teams for the first half of the season after losing favor with Arteta.
Ljungberg, however, believes that Ozil can still be useful for Arsenal in particular games, such as when they need to take down a defensive-minded team.
Ljungberg told The Athletic: ‘Mesut is a great soccer player, we know that.
“We all have different opinions and everyone must accept that people have different opinions.
“ What I tried to do, what I believed in, was that when you play against teams that, on paper, you are a bigger club than or you think they will have a low lock and you need someone to unlock it, Mesut has the total quality to to do that. I think there is a space for a player like that in those kinds of games. ‘
Ljungberg acknowledges that Ozil may not always contribute enough defensively, but added that those shortcomings are offset by his contribution in an offensive sense.
Last season, Ljungberg temporarily took over Arsenal after Unai Emery was sacked and the former Swedish international stressed that Ozil is capable of making an impact in particular matches.
He said: ‘When I was an interim coach, I would play with him in games when I thought he could unlock defenses, even if I knew that his defensive work was not as good as other players. So that’s my opinion; there should be a space in certain games. ‘
Ozil, who makes £ 350,000 a week, sees his contract expire at the end of June next year and may have already played his last game for Arsenal, although there is a chance that he will sign up for the Premier League and the Europa League after the January transfer window.
Arsenal have often lacked creativity in their league matches this season and have only scored nine goals, prompting some fans to call on Ozil to return to the team.
With Ozil out of the team, Arsenal have often played without an attacking midfielder, although Joe Willock was deployed in that position during the draw against Leeds last weekend.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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