Mesut Özil's agent says Mikel Arteta has 'failed to be honest' about player

Mesut Özil’s agent has ramped up the playmaker’s dispute with Arsenal by claiming Mikel Arteta has not been truthful about the reasons for exiling him from the squad.

It seems certain Özil has played his last game for Arsenal after he was omitted from their Premier League and Europa League squads this month. On Wednesday Arteta said he had “failed” Özil, who has not featured since March, by not getting the best out of him but Özil’s camp are adamant that his absence is attributable to factors beyond performances in training or games.

“Arsenal fans deserve an honest explanation, not [Arteta] saying: ‘I failed Özil,’” said Erkut Sogut, Özil’s representative, in an interview with ESPN. “You didn’t fail Özil: you failed to be fair, honest and transparent and treat someone with respect who has a contract and was loyal all the time.

“Every single person outside knows he hasn’t treated him fairly. He didn’t give him a chance to show himself this season. If he is still under contract, the player should have the option to fight for his place. Mesut hasn’t been given that.”

Sogut said a number of Özil’s colleagues felt similarly baffled at his exclusion, which comes at a time when Arsenal lack a creative outlet. “I spoke with at least five teammates who say he is training great,” he continued. “They say Mesut is one of their best players, and they cannot understand why he is left out. So it can’t be the training: if it is not the pitch, what are the footballing reasons? If you talk, you should tell the truth that the Arsenal fans deserve, otherwise don’t talk at all.”

In a further broadside at Arteta, who first joined Arsenal as a player from Everton in 2011, Sogut said Özil was “not a player who is yesterday a Toffee and today a Gunner”. Özil himself had made a public statement earlier in the week, professing his commitment to Arsenal and lamenting “loyalty is hard to come by these days”. His Twitter account was notably active on Thursday night while Arsenal played at Rapid Vienna, with score predictions, in-game commentary and a man-of-the-match poll served up for his followers in what looked a calculated show of allegiance.

While it would be hard to argue that Özil’s performances on the pitch have made his claim to a first-team place irresistible, he has undoubtedly been at loggerheads with the club on other issues, including his refusal to take a pay cut in April and in publicly voicing his support for Uighur Muslims in China last December.

The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.

“He expected to get more support from the club,” Sogut said of the latter situation, which saw Arsenal stress the club had a principle of “not involving itself in politics” in a hurriedly-released statement. “It is not talking about politics, it is about human rights, putting people in detention centres. Imagine a football player comes out and says: ‘This is inhumane.’ Is that politics or empathy?”

Sogut claimed Özil could have left for another club and received a £30m signing-on fee rather than signing a new £350,000-a-week contract at Arsenal in 2018. He said he expected Özil to elaborate on what has become a painful stand-off for all parties in the future.

“Mesut cannot speak now because of confidentiality, but one day he will, and we’ll see what people think,” he said.

Arsenal have been approached for comment.

source: theguardian.com