Former Premier League striker Darren Bent has claimed that Arsenal have a ‘snake’ in their dressing room after Mesut Ozil was reported as one of three players to reject a wage cut.
The ex-England international made the shock claim whilst speaking on the talkSPORT Breakfast show, Bent also added that the abuse Ozil is getting is ‘disgusting’.
According to an exclusive report from the Mirror, superstar Ozil is one of just three Arsenal players to have Arsenal’s proposal of a 12.5% wage cut.
Ozil’s alleged stance has sparked even more controversy as the 31-year-old is the Gunners’ highest-earning, pocketing a massive £350,000-a-week, as per the Mirror.
The Mirror claimed that would like to see the ‘full financial impact’ that the Coronavirus pandemic has before rethinking his stance on the matter.
Here’s what Bent had to say on the drama:
“There’s obviously a snake in that dressing room, which is not good,”
“When you’re in a sporting environment with the guys in the dressing room, you’re like a small family, but at times people do cross the line.”
“I’d be in there making phone calls trying to find out who it was that leaked the story, because if there’s three of us [who rejected a pay cut], I shouldn’t be the only one being named.”
“It also think it’s quite disgusting the abuse he’s getting.”
“He hasn’t come out and said, ‘I’m not doing it’, he’s given context as to why he isn’t doing it. He just wants a bit of time and wants to know where the money is going.”
TalkSPORT reiterate that Ozil’s charitable gestures are often unfairly overlooked, a view that Bent also takes.
The report states that the World Cup winner and his wife celebrated their wedding day by paying for 1,000 children to have life-changing surgery, this is just one of the star’s many charitable acts.
Bent defended Ozil as the star is facing perhaps unfair criticism from the media:
“People gloss over the good he does,”
“That 12.5 per cent comes out of his wages anyway to various charities, but people don’t want to talk about that because he’s a hate figure.”