On five occasions Unai Emery was offered the chance to reaffirm his support for Mesut Ozil. On each of those occasions the Arsenal head coach did all he could to avoid answering the question.
It is no secret that Emery does not like talking about his best-paid player, the biggest name at Arsenal and arguably one of the most high-profile names in world football. The words Mesut Ozil tend to bring about an immediate hardening in the Spaniard's demeanour.
After an in-depth interview published in The Athletic it was inevitable that Ozil would be a major talking point again. Emery offered him crumbs of comfort in his answers to broadcasters ahead of the visit to Sheffield United on Sunday night, though it should be noted that the fact the Gunners head coach needed to reaffirm that he has not "closed the possibility for him to play" says a great deal about the former German international's standing at Arsenal.
Club insiders say he is simply bored of a topic of conversation whose appearance in pre and post-match press conferences vastly eclipses Ozil's record of two games under Emery this season. He would rather, it appears, talk about his tactical approach, Arsenal's mentality or even any other member of the first team.
Asked a fifth and final question about Ozil in his conversation with the written media Emery instead opted to discuss the merits of Bukayo Saka.
Given the chance to respond to Ozil's claims that he feels scapegoated when things go wrong for Arsenal Emery could only offer another insistence that the 31-year-old was treated no differently to any other member of his squad.
"We are in our way and we live in the present," was all Emery could offer. "In this present we are looking for the best way to be competitive and to be a strong team, playing each match with our best quality of available skills and our best mentality.
"Mesut Ozil, for us, is important. Sometimes one player could be important playing or could be important being on the bench or could be important preparing for the next match.
"This is our mentality and this is the way we want to create with 25 players in the squad. Mesut Ozil is in the same way and I told you now for the last three weeks he is working and improving and being better in the training and if we need him we are going use him because with his skills in some matches we are going to need."
Does this matter? Well for both Ozil and Arsenal supporters what is required is a greater degree of clarity over where exactly he stands at the club. After all it was only a few days ago that head of football Raul Sanllehi was saying that the No.10 "needs to contribute 24/7". Now Emery is noting a significant upswing in his work in training over the past fortnight or more.
Amid all these mixed messages the simple reality is that Emery no longer views Ozil as a player who can make a significant contribution to Arsenal playing in the way he wants them to.
"Last year we played with a clear identity, sometimes being a strong pressing (team) ahead and sometimes also doing less pressing but keeping our performances in another way in the season, in each match," he said when asked if there was still space for a player like Ozil in the modern era, when physicality and energy seem as valued as they ever have been.
"It depends because the first is to create our identity, to create our style and our style also depends on the players on the pitch. Sometimes we can play more aggressive in pressing, sometimes we can be less aggressive in pressing, sometimes we can play with a big possession and imposing our gameplan with the ball and also being more in the attacking third and in other moments the opposition is trying to impose against us maybe with high pressing and we need our attack to create more quickly than not using in these moments long possession.
"It depends, but I think we have different players, different qualities and we can use in different moments. I think we did that last year and also we had in some moments good performances and I think this year we want to improve and at the same time we have 25 players in the squad, we can use in different matches in different moments.
"It depends on the position... and also a style and I want to do that. Really, we are improving, we are progressing and I know and I am very ambitious and I want to do more steps ahead and I want to use, and I'm going to do that with every player."
How could Ozil be anything but in the dark if he read those comments from Emery? Ultimately all he has to go on is his head coach's actions on the pitch where he has consistently shown that he does not see his No.10 as an option for the most important games.
It is hard to see that changing for the trip to Bramall Lane. Perhaps with Reiss Nelson absent Ozil will make the matchday squad but it seems unlikely that he will add to his tally of one Premier League start.
If ever Ozil needed clarity over just how his manager perceived him it came here as Emery did everything in his power to talk about anyone and anything but him.
Yet whilst Arsenal's £350,000-a-week star continues to publicly avow his commitment to seeing out his contract even whilst being relegated to a peripheral role questions about Ozil will not go away, no matter how much Emery might not want to answer them.
