Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit has absolutely ripped into Gunners star Mesut Ozil for lacking personality and for being a ‘ghost’ at the club in recent times.
The Frenchman pulled no punches when analysing the German playmaker, who currently finds himself out of favour under Unai Emery, putting his Emirates Stadium future into some doubt.
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Many Arsenal fans would probably just rather Ozil got back into the team at the moment, with Emery’s side seeming to miss his creativity and class in the final third of the pitch.
Petit, however, seems to be on Emery’s side as he feels Ozil has tended to have one good game followed by five bad ones in recent years.
“I have huge respect for Ozil but the Ozil I used to watch years ago, he was one of the best attacking midfield players in the world, he was a pleasure to watch,” Petit told the Mirror.
“Now it’s not even a pleasure or a desire to see him in the team because he’s lost it.
“I have huge respect for Ozil but the Ozil I used to watch years ago, he was one of the best attacking midfield players in the world, he was a pleasure to watch.
“Now it’s not even a pleasure or a desire to see him in the team because he’s lost it.
“When was the last time you saw Ozil playing really well on the pitch? Even two years before the last World Cup he was playing one game good, then five games like this [badly]. It was like this for the last two years.
“So it started two years before the World Cup. The World Cup was the knife and because of that and the fact he’s the best-paid player in the team he has lost his motivation and I think he’s waiting for his retirement.”
This is hardly an ideal interview to come out at the moment for the 30-year-old, who will surely want to prove his doubters wrong and get back into the Arsenal team as soon as possible.
Many former Arsenal players, however, have tended to criticise the former Real Madrid man, who has long divided opinion despite being such an obvious world class talent on his day.