Under-Fire Ozil Issues Arsenal Vow

Mesut Ozil has described Arsenal as his “home” and he intends to stay at the Emirates Stadium at least until his contract expires in summer 2021. The 31-year-old former Germany international has endured a disappointing start to the 2019-20 season, having only been involved in two of the Gunners’ opening 11 fixtures in all competitions.

Indeed, Ozil has not featured in the last three matchday squads, while boss Unai Emery recently claimed other players deserved to be involved more than him.

While it is clear that when Ozil is at the top of his game, he can be a hugely influential figure in the Arsenal side as only Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva and Christian Eriksen have more Premier League assists than he does.

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But, having signed a lucrative, new three-and-a-half-year contract worth £350,000-a-week in January 2018, many fans feel Ozil is no longer interested in playing for the north Londoners.

However, the former Schalke and Werder Bremen playmaker, who joined Arsenal from Real Madrid in summer 2013 in a deal worth around £42.5 million, is adamant that is not the case.

He told The Athletic: “When I signed the new deal, I thought about it very carefully and said it was one of the most important decisions of my footballing career. I didn’t want to stay for just one or two more years, I wanted to commit my future to Arsenal and the club wanted me to do the same.”

Ozil added: “More recently things have been difficult and a lot has changed. But I’m proud to be an Arsenal player, a fan and I’m happy here. Whenever people see me in the street I always say, ‘This is my home’. I’m going nowhere.”
The playmaker will hope to be back involved in the squad when Arsenal travel to Sheffield United on Monday night as the Premier League returns this weekend.