Mesut Ozil has no future at Arsenal if he suffers Tottenham snub, says Lee Dixon

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Comeback kid: Ozil impressed as Arsenal thrashed Bournemouth on Wednesday
REUTERS

Arsenal legend Lee Dixon says Mesut Ozil is a “unique talent”, but believes he has “no future” at the club if Unai Emery cannot find a way to fit him into his first XI on a regular basis, starting with Saturday's North London derby.

Ozil crowned his first Premier League start since January with a goal and an assist in the 5-1 thumping of Bournemouth at home on Wednesday, but has often been left out of potentially tricky away trips under Emery.

Arsenal go to Wembley to face Tottenham on Saturday with the chance to move within a point of their rivals in third, and when asked whether Ozil needed to be starting in games of such magnitude, Dixon said: “Yes, absolutely.

“That's what everybody wants and I'm sure he wants to be in that position, but wanting it and making it happen are two different things,” Dixon told Standard Sport.

“Is he knocking on the manager's door, and saying 'right I want this situation to change, what do I need to do?' That's what I would be doing if I was him, but it's quite clear that we're very different characters.”

Without Ozil, the Gunners have often lacked cutting edge, and Dixon says that if Emery cannot find a way to accommodate him, despite his defensive flaws, then the 30-year-old’s time in North London could be up.

“The team needs him, they need that creativity,” he said. “There's no other player in the league like him, he's a very unique talent, but he has to be in an environment that subsidises for his weaknesses.

In Pictures | Arsenal vs Bournemouth | 27/02/2019

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“If he came to me, if he was playing on my side and said, 'Look Lee, I'm not going to track back as much as you want, but I'll win you the game', I would do everything I could to make that happen.

“He needs special management. If you're not willing to do that as a group of players, and as a coach, then there's no future for him at the club.”

Ozil has been heavily criticised for missing games through what some fans perceive to be minor injuries and illnesses.

His situation is in stark contrast with that of Spurs striker Harry Kane, who looked certain to miss this game when damaging ankle ligaments in January, but displayed remarkable powers of recovery to return against Burnley last weekend.

While Dixon is reluctant to criticise Ozil without knowing the full extent of his problems, he says every professional could learn a thing or two from Kane.

“He's one that has an amazingly brilliant attitude, like all players should have, but we know that's not the case,” Dixon said. “He seems a very positive boy that loves playing football and scoring goals.

“His attitude is to do anything he possibly can to get that shirt on and run out on the pitch.

“[Ozil] might well have had a bad back, and an illness, but it's not just the fact of what's happened, it's surrounded by the whole situation that puts you in a negative frame of mind.

“If he was playing every week and supplying goals, scoring goals, and then he said, 'I've got a twinge in my back', and he couldn't play, you'd be desperately upset. But now it's just like, 'Oh, there's something else wrong with him'.”

Dixon notes that it is ironic that he is discussing the troubles of a £350,000-a-week footballer in the same week he helped launch a new FA partnership aimed at increasing funding available at grassroots level.

According to a new study released this week, a third of amateur clubs report that 40% of their match fees go uncollected. As a result, the FA have teamed up with PayPal to create a new app that does away with cash payments in favour of more efficient digital ones.

“I can remember the same problems of losing the money my mum gave me to give to the manager, or spending it on something else,” Dixon said.

“We can all go on about raising awareness and getting more money to filter down, but if you can actually keep the money there that you're supposed to have anyway, that's surely a start.”

Lee Dixon was speaking to mark the start of a new four-year partnership between PayPal and The FA that will enable over a million grassroots players to pay their match fees through their smartphones, by offering payments for the first time on the FA Matchday app. Visit Facebook.com/PayPalUK for more.

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