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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Jonathan Gorrie

Nacho Monreal: Mesut Ozil ‘had problems with everyone’ at Arsenal

Former Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal has revealed Mesut Ozil’s “problem” was that “he had problems with everyone”.

The playmaker’s time at Arsenal is a hugely interesting one.

Hailed as potentially a game-changing signing when making what was the a club-record move to the club from Real Madrid in 2013, Ozil scored 44 times and registered 77 assists across his time in north London, winning three FA Cups along the way.

Things ended sourly, however, when the German international was cast aside by first Unai Emery and then Mikel Arteta amid question marks about his work ethic.

Ozil moved to Turkish giants Fenerbahce in January 2021 in a haze of fanfare, though his time with Istanbul giants has not gone to plan either.

Earlier this month, they revealed the 33-year-old had been cut from the first-team, alongside Watford loanee Ozan Tufan.

Speaking to FourFourTwo magazine about his time at Arsenal with Ozil, Monreal revealed all.

“Ozil’s problem is that he had problems with everyone,” he said.

“It ended badly with Wenger, he didn’t play the last few games with him, then Emery tried to bring him back and make him our leader.

“To begin with, he gave him a lot of confidence and Mesut played a lot, but the coach understood there were other teammates who were in better condition. Ozil was one of the best players in the team, one of the best paid, but they saw he wasn’t at the level required.”

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