Arsenal star Mesut Ozil axed from Gunners' 25-man Premier League squad
Mesut Ozil's troubled time at the Emirates took an even darker turn as the German international has been left out of Arsenal's Premier League squad for the 2020/21 campaign.
The midfielder, one of Arsenal's most expensive players and their highest earner at a staggering £350,000-a-week, was asked to find a new club after it was revealed to him that he wasn't part of the club's plans. However, Ozil chose to remain at the club and fight for his place, but is yet to feature even for a minute since the seventh of March.
After his latest snub from the Gunners, it appears increasingly likely that Ozil has played his last game for the North London giants and that he will be set either for a January exit or a summer move away from the club.
No spots for Ozil or Sokratis in Arsenal's Premier League squad
Along with Mesut Ozil, Sokratis Papastathopoulos has also been omitted altogether from Arsenal's Premier League squad.
The Greece international was widely expected to depart from the club this summer and was in talks over a move to Napoli, potentially forming a formidable partnership with his compatriot Kostas Manolas.
However, the Partonopei were only likely to move for Sokratis in the event of star defender Kalidou Koulibaly's departure. The Senegalese star was heavily linked with a move to Manchester City this summer, and Napoli earmarked Sokratis as an easily attainable replacement for Koulibaly should he have left for the Etihad.
Koulibaly ultimately ended up remaining in Naples, due to which Sokratis' potential move to Napoli fell through.
Both Ozil and Sokratis have also been left out of Arsenal's UEFA Europa League squads as well, effectively ruling them out of any sort of action for the Gunners for the remainder of the campaign.
In theory, they could still be added back to Arsenal's squads as they would be given a chance to reconfigure their rosters after the January transfer window. That being said, this snub from both their domestic as well as European squads is a clear indication of Arsenal attempting to push both players towards the exit door.
Speaking on the exclusions of the defender and the midfielder, Mikel Arteta expressed;
"I wanted to tell them [Ozil and Sokratis] face to face. I explained the reason why and it was really difficult for me to tell them that, but this is the restriction and rules and they have to respect that decision and try to train the best possible way, help the team how they can in that moment and see what happens."
Ozil reportedly rejected multiple lucrative big-money packages from the Middle East to remain at Arsenal and hope to fight for his place.
The squad, as per the Premier League's rules, has to be submitted by 2pm BST (9am ET) on Tuesday with a maximum limit of 17 non-homegrown players.
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