Mesut Ozil and Miekl Arteta
Mikel Arteta insists Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal exile is solely due to football reasons and believes he has “failed” to get the best out of the 31-year-old after omitting him from the club’s Premier League and Europa League squads.
The Gunners confirmed on Tuesday that their highest-paid player, earning £350,000 a week, was not included in their 25-man squad for the current Premier League campaign and effectively may have played his last game for the club.
The move prompted Ozil to hit back at the club on Wednesday, saying “loyalty is hard to come by” and expressing disappointment to the club’s supporters.
Ozil’s contract expires at the end of the season. He was one of three players to refuse to take a 12.5% pay cut—later reduced to 7.5% after Arsenal qualified for Europe by winning the FA Cup—amid rumours of deterioration in relations between the player and club.
Last December, the Gunners distanced themselves from comments Ozil made on Instagram in which he spoke out against China‘s persecution of the Uighur population—a mostly Muslim Turkic population—by claiming the club “has always adhered to the principle of not involving itself in politics.”
However, speaking ahead of Arsenal’s opening Europa League game at Rapid Vienna last night, Arteta said, “Honestly I take full responsibility. I have to be the one getting the best out of the players. It is my responsibility. It is nothing related to any behaviour or, like I read, the pay cuts.
“It’s not true. It’s my decision, if someone has to to be blamed, blame me. And it will happen when we lose football matches—my responsibility. I have to make the decision to get the best possible squad out there to win football matches and competitions as often as we can. In order to do that I try to be fair with him or with any of the players in the squad, and defend as much as possible the interests of the club.