Former Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg believes Mesut Ozil still has a part to play at the club despite his seemingly bleak future - and has offered an insight into why Mikel Arteta may not have selected him this season.
The German international was left out of Arsenal's Premier League and Europa League squads for this campaign.
Despite being one of the club's highest earners, the 32-year-old has effectively been frozen out by manager Arteta.
But the attacking midfielder is renowned for his creativity and ability to unlock defences, something Arsenal have been in short supply of in recent weeks - evidenced in tonight's goalless draw with Leeds United.
In nine Premier League games, the Gunners have scored nine goals, the joint fifth lowest in the league.
Now former winger and coach Ljungberg, who made 326 appearances for Arsenal and was part of the Premier League-winning Invincibles side of 2003/04, has weighed in on Ozil's situation.
Ljungberg spent two years between 2018/20 as a coach at the club, as well as having a spell in interim charge following the departure of Unai Emery in November 2019, and had first-hand knowledge of working with Ozil.
Before Arsenal's game at Leeds United, he said on Sky Sports: “When I chose to play him, I felt as a club, when you play at home against smaller clubs, where you feel like you should dominate a little bit - then he should be on the pitch to unlock defences with his special passes.
"Yes, he maybe doesn’t have the athleticism that is demanded now in the Premier League, so you lose a little bit of that, but I felt he should be good enough.
"When you play City, who have the ball all of the time, maybe that’s not the game for having Mesut on the pitch, but if you want creativity, wow, his left foot is fantastic.”
Former Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra said Arsenal needed Ozil's creativity.
“Where is Ozil? They used to do that game, ‘Where is Wally?’, now we should do ‘Where is Ozil?’, because we’re talking about a lack of creativity," he told Sky Sports.
"So, what’s the problem? Is it with the club?
"Because as a manager, I know sometimes he’s lazy with running back but we’re talking about creativity now, so where is Ozil?”
