Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says he has been 'hurt' by midfielder Mesut Ozil's situation at the club.
The 32-year-old World Cup winner has been frozen out at the North London outfit after he was omitted from Arteta's Premier League and Europa League squads for the season.
Ozil has not featured for the club since March and his days appear to be numbered with his contract set to expire at the end of the season.
Arteta said last month that he felt he had 'failed' the midfielder, who joined Arsenal from Real Madrid in 2013, by seemingly having no choice but to leave him out of his first-team plans.
The Spaniard has since shed new light on the situation, claiming that although the situation is 'really sad', the decisions he makes are solely for the benefit of the football club as a whole.
"Since I arrived here, if you see where some players had started and where they are right now, their careers are completely changed and they have earned that right, we gave them the opportunities and they took them," Arteta told beIN Sports.
"With Mesut at the moment, with the squad list obviously he cannot be involved. I tried to be as clear as possible with himself and with all the media and fans because I think they deserve to know the reasons why.
"Some people would understand it and a lot of people wouldn't understand it because of the player he is [and] what he's done for the club.
"I'm hurt because I don't like any players in my squad not to have the possibility to participate or to compete. For me it's really sad because I think nobody deserves that. And we have a few in our squad now because of the numbers we have with foreign players.
"But at the end of the day I'm sitting here to make decisions, to make the decisions that in my opinion are best for the football club, and this is what I have to do."
Arsenal return to Premier League action on Sunday with a tough trip to face Leeds United at Elland Road.
Further tests against Wolves and fierce rivals Tottenham also lie on the horizon before the start of the festive period.
