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LONDON: Arsenal’s underdog midfielder Mesut Ozil was left out of his 25-man Premier League squad for the 2020-21 season launched on Tuesday (October 20), increasing the likelihood that he played his last match for North London. club.
Ozil, 32, who has a contract with Arsenal until June 2021 and earns £ 350,000 ($ 452,830) a week, has not played for Mikel Arteta’s team this season.
The German playmaker, who last played for Arsenal in March, was also fired from his Europa League squad earlier this month.
Arteta had said last month that his team is “evolving” and that Ozil would have a difficult time finding a place in the squad, casting doubt on his future at the club.
Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos was also left out of Arsenal’s Premier League team after he too was excluded from the Europa League team.
Separately, Chelsea appointed Petr Cech, who played for the club from 2004 to 2015 and currently works as a technical advisor at Stamford Bridge, as an emergency goalkeeper cover amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cech had retired as a player in May 2019 after playing for Arsenal in their final Europa League loss to Chelsea.
“We don’t want to risk having a hard time finishing a game. Although this is just an emergency option and the probability is very small, we want to be safe,” Cech said through his representatives.
“The coach (Frank Lampard) decides who is nominated and who is not. In the end, we agreed and it was actually also his idea that since I train with the team, it would make sense to put me in an emergency situation.” . “
Manchester United excluded defender Phil Jones and goalkeeper Sergio Romero from their squad, while Tottenham Hotspur left Danny Rose out after failing to secure a move to a second division club in the championship on the day of the tournament deadline. transfer.
League leaders Everton eliminated winger Yannick Bolasie after the 31-year-old failed to make the team of the day this season, having last played for the Toffees in May 2018.
Premier League clubs can enter 25 first-team players over the age of 21, of which a minimum of eight must be local.
The Premier League defines a ‘local’ player as a player of any nationality who is 21 years of age or older on January 1, 2021 and spent three years between the ages of 16 and 21 on an English league team.
