Ex-Arsenal player: ‘Ozil’s problem is that he had problems with everyone’

Mesut Ozil’s problem at Arsenal is “that he had problems with everyone” at the club, according to his former teammate Nacho Monreal.

The Gunners splashed out around £42.5m to sign the midfielder from Real Madrid in 2013.

For the most part, the player’s spell at Arsenal was a success as he helped them win the FA Cup three times. He grabbed 44 goals and 77 assists from his 254 appearances.

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Ozil’s time at Arsenal ended on a sour note. He was left out of their squads ahead of the 2020/21 season following a dispute with Mikel Arteta and the club.

His contract was terminated early in January 2021 and this enabled him to join Fenerbache for free.

Last week, it was revealed that Ozil had been “excluded from the squad” and would not be made available for selection. 

Monreal – who played 251 times for Arsenal – has discussed Ozil’s exit:

“Ozil’s problem is that he had problems with everyone,” Monreal told FourFourTwo.

“It ended badly with Wenger, he didn’t play the last few games with him, then Emery tried to bring him back and make him our leader.

“To begin with, he gave him a lot of confidence and Mesut played a lot, but the coach understood there were other teammates who were in better condition. Ozil was one of the best players in the team, one of the best paid, but they saw he wasn’t at the level required.

“As a person, he was good with everyone, but he also missed a lot of games through injury.”

Monreal was also asked about Unai Emery’s downfall at Arsenal. He was the man chosen to replace Arsene Wenger in 2018.

In his first season, the Gunners finished fifth in the league and they lost in the final of the Europa League.

After a string of poor results, Emery was sacked in November 2019 and was replaced by Arteta.

Monreal added: “Emery was weighed down by the post-Wenger period, as would have happened to anyone.

“I think Unai had a great season. We didn’t get into the Champions League because we messed up down the stretch. But he took us to the Europa League final against Chelsea.

“The first half was good, but in the second half we were deflated. The team was getting back on track, but everything went wrong afterwards.”