Mesut Ozil has yet to figure in Arsenal games since June and his chance of getting playtime in the season appears to have further dimmed. Mikel Arteta will need to submit his final list of roster members in the current campaign and Premier League rules could force the Spaniard to ax Ozil.
The list can accommodate 25 names but the league limits the non-homegrown players to 17, and at present, the Gunners have already 19 foreigners on the lineup. The signing of Thomas Partey this week only made the Arsenal roster of non-homegrowns even more crowded, thus forcing Arteta to let go of first-team players anytime in the week.
The Arsenal manager admitted the issue is giving him headaches since the start of the season.
"I'm really happy with all the boys and the way they're training ... But selection is getting more complicated and ... this new rule ... makes it very difficult," Goal reported Arteta as saying.
The club boss, however, can make things easier by picking the players he rarely deploys on the pitch and Ozil quickly comes to mind. The German is considered an outcast and has been the subject of offloading attempts by Arsenal.
But the prevailing transfer market condition makes it difficult to move players away and more so in the case of Ozil. The playmaker has until next summer on his contract with Arsenal and should be ripe for potential deals to get him out of the roster.
Ozil's weekly wage of £350,000 is making it hard to attract buyers and his being 31 years old is also a concern.
Clubs have reservations too that the Arsenal man is already past his peak. Ozil was unsuccessful so far in impressing Arteta that he is in good form to play, which explains his absence from the squad for months now. And it was the same case when Unai Emery was still in charge of the Emirates side.
That is why he is one of the usual suspects when Arteta transmits the official Gunners squad to the Premier League this week.
Metro said the deadline for submission has been extended to October 20 and the initial names thought to be omitted were Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares. It is understood though that Arteta's list is not yet finalized and changes could be made.
There is a possibility that Ozil would be spared from the imminent purge since Arteta's side has a surplus of center-backs. The roster counts eight central defenders and Arsenal leaving out one or two is not seen to hurt the club's campaign in the season.
